


Society Of Arcane Science Adventures

by VictorianEnthusiast



Category: The Glass Scientists (Webcomic), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: Angst, Grumpy Old Men, Mad Scientists, Multi, No Lanyon, Sexual innuendos, Slow Burn because idiots in love, Strong Language, modern day AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictorianEnthusiast/pseuds/VictorianEnthusiast
Relationships: Abusive Relationships - Relationship, Edward Hyde (The Glass Scientists)/Original Male Character(s), Henry Jekyll/Original Character(s), James Moriarty/Sebastian Moran
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter One: An Unexpected Visitor

The sun was just beginning to set on the city of London and the fading orange light was causing the shadows to grow longer in every corner. A glow appeared one by one in the windows of the city. Including in the townhouse of Professor Ahto. Though the lights being lit in that home were not turned on by the professor, but his young ward, Arthur Grimes. 

Arthur had finished turning on the lamps to cast a glow over the table, chasing away the snake like shadows that had covered the table and threatened the event occurring. He smiled when the lights were all lit, and sat back down.

“Well, that should be enough light.” Arthur murmed, before smiling apologetically at the woman who sat across from him.

“Apologies for the delay Dr.Dagenhart. I’ll get the tea started right away.” 

The women being addressed smiled, amused by the young man’s nervousness over such a trivial detail. “It’s no trouble Arthur, tea time doesn’t have a deadline.” Her voice was kind and pleasant, a calming contralto carried by a west coast American accent. Dr. Dagenhart was a very tall woman, standing at a height of 6’10 with a figure that put one in mind of an Amazonian that had overindulged in sweets a few too many times. She had long brown hair and forest green eyes behind round aquamarine tinted glasses. She was lovely but not in a way you’d pine over, merely pleasant to see. 

Arthur smiled once again, his shoulders relaxing just a little bit. 

“Well, the professor says that everything has a deadline.” His voice was a hybrid of a English and an east coast American accent, a strange result of the two distinct phases of his childhood. 

He was much smaller than his guest but he wasn’t small, standing at a perfectly acceptable 5’9”. Arthur wasn’t intimidating in build, though he didn’t fully possess the stereotypical scrawny body of an academic. His face was framed by his slightly unkempt blonde hair, blue eyes highlighted by the round reading glasses balanced on his nose. Arthur's eyes were arguably his best feature, blue and so expressive that one could almost see his thoughts swirling within them. They were kind eyes, sending a message of “I would love to help” to anyone that saw them. 

The doctor shrugged, “If that’s how he wants to live I won’t stop him, I think it sounds rather stressful though.” She said with a hint of concern, she firmly believed in things like stopping to smell the flowers, naps in the sun, and long holidays in the tropics. Arthur had no idea how she got all her work done but somehow, it happened, and with impeccable quality.

The philosophy imprinted on Arthur by Ahto was quite the opposite, believing that many pleasantries and comforts were to be pushed aside in pursuit of a goal. Though, it could be debated if the reclusive professor ever bothered with pleasantries as Arthur did. Despite the hardline stance of his caretaker, the young man had tried to find some sort of middle ground, some sort of balance. And he had! Well at least in his mind he did, he was an incredibly pleasant person and never skipped on the social necessities, even if he did so with some degree of awkwardness. He did get his work done and with good quality as the result, but Arthur would sometimes neglect other things in order to achieve this. The dark circles under Arthur's eyes were visible as he leaned over to pour the tea, despite his glasses doing their best to conceal them. 

“Well, I don’t find it particularly stressful personally.” 

Dr. Dagenhart added honey to her tea, “You say that, and then I find you dead asleep while standing in line at the grocery store.” She takes a sip of her drink.

“W-well.. “ Arthur sputtered, flushing slightly at the memory. He had been staring at the back of the person standing in front of him line, trying to battle the urge to sleep, leaning over his cart filled with frozen peas and the like. It had seemed he had only closed his eyes for a second before he was being shaken awake by the annoyed cashier telling him that it was his turn at the register. It wasn’t his proudest moment. “That was an exception.” 

“What about that time I asked you to bring Cornelius in from the garden and you brought back one of my chickens instead?” Cornelius the dog, a small fluffy white creature with no discernible personality besides ‘affectionate’ was admittedly the same size and color of the chickens kept in the Doctor’s garden, but it was still concerning Arthur had been so tired as to mix up the two.

“Well, it was an important assignment, I had to give up some hours of sleep.” Arthur muttered defensively, incredibly embarrassed about the memory. His cup of tea was mostly left untouched, with only one sip having been taken from it. “Well, the chicken seemed to be grateful at least…”

“She was certainly happy about the dog treat you gave her.” The doctor allowed, “Now drink your tea Arthur, you’re leaving it to freeze.”

Arthur nodded and began drinking his tea, which was now not as tasty since it was now lukewarm. He eventually finished it, but as he was pouring himself another cup there was a knock at the door, causing him to pause with the teapot in hand. 

“Oh, excuse me, doctor.” He replied absentmindedly, putting the teapot down and getting up. It was out of pure habit, stopping everything to perform a duty. 

Dr. Dagenhart watched Arthur open the door with interest, after all it could be something exciting. This was unlikely but still, a person can hope.

As Arthur began to open the door, a cane pushed him to the side, the caller obviously impatient to get in. A young man, slightly taller and older looking than Arthur stepped in the door. He was quite formally dressed, as though he had just arrived from a meeting with the Queen. He resembled Arthur in a few ways, but his eyes were completely different. They were a cold gray color, completely walling off all attempts to read them. His hair was also an ashy gray, as though he was older than he seemed The man cleared his throat before speaking. “I hope I am not interrupting anything.” He said, his voice seeming to have a slightly icy tone to it. 

“Just tea, care for some?” Dr. Dagenhart offered, deciding not to immediately reveal she had instantly disliked the man as soon as he came in. He reminded her of a cat, but without any of the endearing qualities that gave the sadistic little bastards redemption. “I brought some ginger biscuits to go with.”

“If it can’t be avoided.” The man replied, sounding annoyed before pulling up a chair to the table, leaving his cane and coat in Arthurs hands at the door. “Time is wasting Artie.” He said, only sparing a glance at the shocked young man. Arthur quickly placed the coat and cane in the correct places near the door and hurried back to the table, trying to regain his composure. “Dr.Dagenhart, this is-” He began, gesturing towards the man. 

“James. James Doyle.” The man interrupted Arthur, seemingly to be not at all interested in the social niceties.

“Lovely to meet you Jamie!” The doctor holds out her hand and smiles so brightly you wouldn't dream she was being passive aggressive if you weren't a cynical asshole.

James looked at her hand with an unimpressed expression, and ignored it. “It’s James or Mr. Doyle. Thank you.” He then watched Arthur pour his tea, holding up a hand to stop him. “I’m here to discuss something with you Arthur.” His tone softened, even if just a little bit. 

Dr. Dagenhart decided to mentally retract her comparison to cats, cats were smart enough not to pick fights without cause, mostly. “How sweet of you to visit, and how do you know Arthur if I may ask?” She didn’t imagine Arthur would be around this aggravating a person willingly, a distant but nosy relative perhaps?

James sighed, closing his eyes and most likely rolling them when he did so. But he didn’t just ignore the question at least. 

“Arthur is my youngest brother.” He replied, opening his eyes to look at Terra. “That is how I know him. Dr. Dagenhart.” James added a slightly sour emphasis on her name. 

Dr. Dagenhart didn’t have the patience for this today. “My condolences.” She said to Arthur before pouring herself another cup of tea.

Arthur looked confused for a moment before placing a smile back on his face. “So, what are you here to discuss James?” He asked, honestly confused. He hadn’t seen James in person in years due to James running off when Ahto took them in. Arthur only knew that James was alive from the letters and checks occasionally sent his way. James seemed to relax slightly. “I came here to discuss The Society.” James began, pulling out an envelope. 

“Society like one of the royal societies? Are you also in science? Art perhaps?” Dr. Dagenhart asked, this man had trouble written on him in big block letters and she believed in knowing her enemy.

“..I’m a mathematics professor.” James replied, before continuing with what he was saying, raising his voice as though signaling that he shouldn’t be interrupted again. “I’m speaking of The Society of Arcane Science.” He opened up the envelope, pulling out a document with a man's photo on it, but obscuring just enough of it so that the photo wouldn’t be fully visible until he wished it to be. 

But it was, somehow, no longer in his hand, Dr. Dagenhart was reading the document as if it had been with her the entire time. 

James snatched the document from Terra, his face completely expressionless. But before James could continue speaking, Arthur did. “The Society Of Arcane Science? Didn’t the Professor say that it was a hoax? Didn’t he write some papers about it?” Arthur asked confusedly. 

“I’d like to know why you have a medical file on this Dr. Jekyll when you do not appear to be his doctor or family member.” Dr. Dagehart, said. Her voice was no longer pleasant, in fact if James’s voice was cold, Dr. Dagenhart’s was somewhere around absolute zero.

“That’s none of your concern.” James dismissed her question with a wave of his hand as though she had just asked something ridiculous. Arthur looked a bit frightened at Terras change in tone, shrinking back slightly. “And yes Artie. That Ahto has dismissed the Society as a hoax, but I believe differently. In fact, I’ve found quite a few things contradicting his research.”

“Actually it IS my concern since I currently work there.” Dr. Dagenhart bit out, “And so I know these files are classified and are not allowed to leave hospital premises. So I would very much like to know how you got them and why you have them.” The tone of voice promised little mercy otherwise.

James looked completely unphased by her questions and merely took a sip from the cup of tea in front of him. “Call them and ask yourself to see.” He seemed almost amused by this turn of events, as though he was a child giggling over a prank on a teacher. 

She rolled her eyes, annoyed. “Bribery then, at least have the decency to cover your tracks using actual skill.” She turns to Arthur, “I see why you don’t talk about him much.”

Arthur looked shocked at Terra’s words, and stared at his lap trying to think of what to say in response when James spoke up, his voice still cold, but the anger was apparent. Like magma within an iceberg. “Why is this woman even here Artie?” James snapped at his brother, staring him down. 

“I’m here because Arthur is a dear friend of mine and has invited me for tea. It’s rather obvious.” She turned to Arthur again, “Are you alright? You look shaky.” Her voice had gone from the cold void of space to warm merengue in less than a moment.

“I...I think we should stop fighting. The Professor is attempting to take a nap.” Arthur mumbled, still looking down at his lap. 

“Too late for that.” A watery voice said, accompanied by the sound of a wheelchair coming towards the table. Professor Ahto appeared at the table and looked at Terra from behind his dark glasses, the face he was making obviously making it known he wasn’t pleased she was here. “What’s going on?”

Dr. Dagenhart answered first, “Your less pleasant ward has come to disprove your work, which I’d be fine with if he wasn’t being incredibly rude in the process.”

“I’m in no way that man's ward. I can handle myself.” James snapped, slipping the file back into the envelope and resealed it carefully, passing it over to Arthur along with a slip of paper. “I can see I’m not wanted here. But Artie, do consider what I said.” He said, standing up and heading towards the door, but not before delivering a smirk towards Terra and a cold glare towards Ahto. “Farewell my good fellows, I do hope we all meet again.” 

“Well, I hated that. Are you alright Arthur?” Terra asked, concern emanating from her like heat from an oven.

Arthur held the folder and slip of paper in his lap, and simply just stared at them. The tea had gone cold and the atmosphere of comfort had completely folded. He wasn’t sure of what to do, he didn’t have a plan. “I..I feel tired.” Arthur murmured. 

“That’s understandable.“ Terra stood up and gave him a pat on the shoulder, then quickly removed it. “Would you like me to leave? I didn’t exactly help back there.” 

“Yes. You should leave.” Ahto replied before Arthur could speak. “You can leave and Arthur can clean up.” Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly stood up, envelope and paper slip in hand. 

“..Alright.”

Terra glared briefly at Ahto before returning to Arthur. “Well I’m right next door if you need to talk.” She leaves, somehow taking the last sense of comfort in the house with her.

“Well, I’ll trust you to clean this mess. And to not wake me up while you do so.” Ahto snapped at Arthur, before turning himself around and wheeling himself back to his room. For a few minutes, all Arthur could do was stand and stare blankly at the “mess.” Arthur found himself trying to hold back tears, despite it being such a miniscule thing that he should have been able to brush aside. Instead, he felt hollow as he picked up the dishes, robotically following the orders that Ahto had given him. When he was finally done, he trudged his way to his room and collapsed unto the bed, the envelope and paper slip falling beside him. It took him a few minutes before he glanced over at them, finally seeing what the paper slip had on it.

There was a phone number and a single sentence. “Call me Artie.” 

He took a moment to simply stare before grabbing his phone and dialing the number.

Meanwhile something small and fluffy had sat down under his window without completely knowing why.

After a few rings, Arthur heard James pick up.

“Ah, Arthur you called. Interested after all?” James asked, his voice soft. 

“Yes. What.. What are you doing being involved in the Society?” Arthur questioned, tired but still curious.

“Well, what if I told you that the Society that Ahto has told you is a hoax is actually completely legitimate?” James almost crooned, knowing that Arthur was falling perfectly into his plan. 

“What do you mean?” Arthur was now fully hooked into this narrative that James was weaving. 

“Well, you know the file of Dr. Jekyll? And how he looks Incredibly like the founder of the Society?” James questioned.

“Yes it’s… a very strange coincidence. He must be a descendant” He said, not really understanding where his brother is going with this. 

“Tsk. Tsk. Artie don’t you get it? He’s not simply a descendant Artie. He is the founder.” James said.

“H-how is that possible?” Arthur sat up in his bed, now energized by this new mystery.

“Well, why don’t you travel to Willowbrook and ask him yourself?” James said smugly, knowing that he had fully ensnared the young man. 

“But how am I supposed to… And it’s Terras..”

“Oh don’t worry about any of that.. it’s all taken care of.” James replied, shutting down any concerns that his brother brought up. “I’ve got to go now Artie. But be sure to call me back.” James said in a singsong manner before he hung up. Leaving Arthur alone in the room, his mind racing. 

Then he hears a scratching below the window, followed by a small yip.

Arthur turned, only to see the white fluff known as Cornelius scratching at the window, which Arthur quickly opened. Letting the friendly fellow in.

“Cornelius! What are you doing here?” He asked, giving him a gentle pat on the head. 

Cornelius licks his hand yipping happily. He tries to stand on his hind legs and paw at Arthur’s knees, his doggy way of asking to be picked up.

Arthur picked up Cornelius and sat down on his bed again with the pup in his lap, trying to be as quiet as possible, he knew Ahto didn’t much like dogs. He stroked Cornelius’s head thoughtfully. 

“Cornelius.. I’ve got quite the situation on my hands..” 

The dog tilts his head as if to indicate he was listening, his tiny pink tongue poking out ready to kiss away woes.

“I don’t think I should trouble you with it..” Arthur sighed, accepting the kisses gratefully. Until he heard the familiar drag of Ahto’s wheelchair, coming closer. “Cornelius.. I think it might be time for you to leave..” 

The canine was already halfway to the window, he didn't like the professor anymore than his master did. He hopped out and sprinted back to his own home.

Arthur had already shut the window and thrown himself into bed when Ahto made his way to the room. But remained tense until he heard Ahto roll away. He could barely sleep the whole night, thinking about what he would have to do tomorrow. 

  
  



	2. ChapterTwo: The Great Escape

It was about 6:30 am in the morning, when Arthur finally woke up, his blonde hair now even more of a mess. He felt exhausted, but the buzzing of his phone didn’t allow him to bury himself into his pillow and force himself back to sleep. 

“Good morning Artie. I left a package for you to help you at Willowbrook. - James”

Arthur stared blearily at the message before getting up, freshening himself up to make himself at least presentable. If he went to Willowbrook looking as tired as he was, they would probably admit him. He emerged from his room, careful not to make any noise, lest he wake up the Professor. That would throw quite a wrench in his plans.

As Arthur made his way out of the door, he nearly tripped over a package left on the welcome mat. 

It was simply marked with his name and a note saying “Open me” on it. And who was he to deny the boxes orders? 

Inside the box was a notebook, another envelope, and a pen with a small note attached to it. 

“Multipurpose. Use it both for writing and sedating! :).”

Arthur stood there for a moment, just trying to take it all in. He thought for a second about calling James and asking him for more instructions.. But he knew that would probably get him nowhere. So, Arthur simply put the contents in his pockets and got into Ahto’s car praying that he wouldn’t notice it’s absence. 

And off to Willbrook he went. 

It was about 8:30 am when Arthur arrived at Willowbrook, having been stalled due to a need for a coffee and at least something to eat, as well as a short nap he had taken on the side of the road. As he entered the institution he fixed himself up one last time. 

He approached the front desk with a smile on his face, still trying to look a little presentable to the staff. 

“Hello, I’m here to visit someone.” He said.

The receptionist looked up from a college textbook he’d been focused on, he was a young Indian man barely into his twenties with a name tag stating his name was Samir and looked just as tired as Arthur did. “Can I get your name and phone number please sir?” He asked quickly, wanting to return to his coursework before the visitor rush.

“Arthur Grimes and it’s… 202-555-0192.” He said, almost forgetting both of those in his nervousness. He felt sympathy for the receptionist, but he also had something to do. 

“Ok.” Samir typed in Arthur’s information, “And who are you visiting today?” 

“Henry Jekyll.” Arthur answered, hoping desperately that James had really taken care of everything. If he hadn’t he would have some explaining to do. 

“Alright...” Samir paused, staring at the screen confused. “Ok so I’m supposed to give you a pass but you also have a note from Dr. Dagenhart that just says ‘sigh’ like just the word sigh...” Samir shrugs it off and hands a pass to Arthur. “Here, please return it when you’re done.” The receptionist goes back to studying without another word.

Arthur relaxed a little bit, giving Samir a small unseen smile. But the smile quickly fell from his face as he continued to walk towards his destination. After this was all done and he got the answers from Jekyll.. He’d explain everything to Terra. Everything. 

That is if he knew where Jekyll was. The mental institution was like a maze to him and he wasn’t too keen on just dawdling around until he managed to find the room. 

“Are you lost dear?” A doctor asked him, she was at least seventy and her name tag said ‘Dr. Bevans.’ she looked like every sweet old lady ever portrayed in media.

“Y-yes.. I’m looking for Henry Jekyll. I’m here to visit him.” Arthur replied, already begging to get this over with. He still had the sedative pen, and was now considering throwing it in the nearest trash can. 

“Really? I don’t remember him ever getting a visitor before.“ Dr. Bevans said, surprised. “I’m almost certain he’s in room 304, though I’ve never worked with him so I might be off by a couple numbers but you can just ask someone else in the hall if you get the wrong room. Enjoy your visit dear.” Thankfully the drugging of old ladies did not appear to be necessary. 

Arthur smiled at her warmly, looking quite thankful. “Thank you very much Dr. Bevans. I’ll be sure not to bother anyone.” He replied, walking away from her, breathing a gigantic sigh of relief.

He made his way down the halls, trying not to perturb any of the medical staff on his way to 304. All he wanted was answers, and then he would be on his way. That was all.

He arrived at the room, now nearly trembling. He was both frightened and eager to see who or what was waiting for him inside. He steadied himself, and opened the door. 

The first thing he noticed was the smell of peppermint in the room. It was faint, but just prominent enough to be quite a shock to his nostrils. The room was the next thing that shocked him. The padded walls, which Arthur had assumed fell out of style quite a while ago. 

He stepped in, slightly shivering at the way his feet sank into the padding. About a yard in the room, he saw Jekyll. 

The man was a brunette, with a unique

set of amber red eyes, though they seemed clouded by something. He was restrained in a straitjacket, something that further shocked him. Arthur could have sworn straitjackets were declared inhumane long ago. 

He stepped further towards the man, who finally noticed Arthur.

“I’m sorry.. The exhibition isn’t going to be open until Thursday.” Jekyll mumbled, slurring over his words.

“W-what?” Arthur asked, confused. What was he talking about? An exhibition? 

  
  


“Hell if I know.” A doctor entered the room, he was middle aged with blond hair. He had a glass of water and a bottle of pills in his hand. “He’s alway saying something crazy, you’re Arthur right? I’m Dr. Drear, I’ll be supervising this visit.” He takes out three pills and. “Make it fast. I'm about to give him his meds.”

Jekyll's eyes seemed to clear up a little and he moved away from Dr. Drear. He glared at him slightly, or as much of a glare he could manage in his semi-drugged state.

“No.” Jekyll spoke, his voice a little more clear. “No medicine.” 

“Pills or syringe, your call pal.” The doctor told him roughly. He looks at Arthur “I said get a move on, once he takes these pills he's a vegetable until dinner.”

“That doesn’t seem very right..” Arthur mumbled before leaning down in front of Jekyll.”Hello sir. I’m here to ask about.. the Society?” 

Jekyll's eyes seemed to light up at Arthur’s question. “You mean The Society Of Arcane Science?” He asked, almost sounding hopeful.

“Yes! What do you know about it?” Arthur asked eagerly, excited to hear what answer he would get. 

“Quite a lot..” Jekyll chuckled. “Considering that I am the founder!”

“The….founder? But that would mean.. you’re over…” Arthur murmured confused, looking towards Drear instinctively for an answer. 

The doctor reluctantly looked up from his phone, “Guy thinks he’s over a hundred, or something.” He seemed annoyed at having to do anything besides the bare minimum. 

“I don’t just think-“ Jekyll began, before stopping. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with this man. 

“Yes. I know it seems unbelievable, but I assure you that I am telling the truth!” Jekyll struggled against his bonds, most likely much to Dr. Drears shagrin. 

“Ok, it’s pill time.” Dr. Drear announced before turning to Arthur again. “Get out kid, visit’s over.”

Before Arthur could speak, his phone dinged. It was James.

“Drug the bastard. Take Jekyll.” It stated. Arthur would have spent more time gawking at it, but even he knew that time was running out for him to get this done.

“I’m so so very sorry about this.” Arthur said before he took out the pen and stabbed the syringe into Dr. Drears neck. 

The doctor briefly took on an expression of deep offense before crumpling to the ground like a failed jenga tower.

Arthur stepped over Dr. Drears unconscious form and towards Jekyll, staring at him awkwardly before picking him up bridal style. He knew he didn’t know how to undo the straitjacket, and knew he couldn’t possibly figure it out before Drear woke up.

“Oh goodness!” Jekyll exclaimed as Arthur scooped him up, still trying to blink away the effects of his medicine. 

“The fire door is open. Be careful on the way out Artie.” James’s text read. And Arthur could almost hear him laughing as he made his way down the corridor, 

Meanwhile in Jekyll’s head, Hyde was slowly waking up as well. “ _ Well look at Prince Charming here..” _ Hyde mumbled. “ _ How heroic. Saving us from our.. what eighty year prison?” _ Jekyll’s sighed internally with relief, a least Hyde seemed to be acting a little rationally-

_ “Touch his butt.”  _

There it was. 

“No.” Jekyll mumbled, not realizing he was speaking out loud. “I will not be touching his posterior.”

“WHAT?!” Arthur managed to sputter out as he flew through the fire exit, trying desperately not to fall and his face and taking his passenger with him. 

It was a bit of a chore to get the restrained Jekyll into the back of his car, but even more of one to decide what to do next. After a few minutes of deliberation and some babbling from Jekyll, Arthur decided to call Terra, quickly dialing her number on his phone. 

She picked up on the second ring, “Are you ok?” 

“Terra.. I may have done something… You would consider.. really stupid.” Arthur said, trying to keep his voice down. 

There was a pause, “You’re going to have to be more specific Arthur.” Terra told him.

“I went to Willbrook and… took Jekyll from his room.” Arthur mumbled, sounding ashamed. “Because…”

“Go on.” Terra urged, already knowing where this was going and not happy about it.

“James… told me to.” Arthur admitted, almost forgetting about the passenger in the back of his car. “And now… I don’t know where to go with him. I can’t bring him back to Professor Ahto’s, so I don’t know where to bring him. Do.. you have any advice?” 

There was a large sigh on Terra’s end “There’s a key under the lawn gnome dressed like Guy Fieri on my porch, you can stay until I get back. But James is not allowed in under any circumstances, do you understand me?” Her tone was serious.

“...Yes ma’am. Thank you.” Arthur replied before hanging up, beginning to drive away from the parking lot. The movement of the car seemed to surprise Jekyll, who let out a little sound of surprise. 

“Goodness.. What is this..” He wondered as he carefully watched Arthur drive. Was it some sort of horseless carriage? He had seen prototypes and even tested some out himself, but they were nowhere near as advanced as this! He noted in his mind to ask this “Arthur” about it later.

Arthur arrived at Terras' house a few minutes later and searched the ground until he found the mentioned gnome, opening the door, and carrying Jekyll inside. 

He wasn’t looking forward to the talks he would probably have to have with her.


	3. Chapter Three: A Gentle Scolding

Arthur sat on Dr. Dagenhart’s couch alongside Dr.Jekyll, who had recently fully woken from his drugged haze. The first thing Jekyll had done was introduce himself fully and exchange names with Arthur because “it's what gentlemen do.” Arthur had been slightly flattered by the man's politeness, and even a little embarrassed by how thankful Dr. Jekyll was to him for “saving him.”

“I really cannot thank you enough Mr. Grimes. If it wasn’t for you, well I suspect I would have been trapped in that horrid prison for another few decades! Though.. It does make me wonder Mr. Grimes-” Dr. Jekyll began, hoping to “gently” question Arthur about where he acquired his “information”. 

“Just… Just call me Arthur sir.” Arthur interrupted the attempted prodding, having gotten overwhelmed by Jekyll’s insistence on formality.

“Ah. Arthur then! But as I was saying, if you don’t mind me asking.. Where did you learn about The Society Of Arcane Science? I was rather afraid that we had been erased from all records!” Jekyll held Arthurs gaze, trying to gently “coax” the truth out of him.

“W-well... I’m going to admit that I wasn’t exactly introduced to it in a positive manner.” Arthur mumbled, trying to look away from the other man's eyes. He didn’t want to admit that most of his childhood was filled with Ahto preaching about the “Society of Hoaxes.” to the founder of said society, however he didn’t wish to lie. “My… Caretaker Professor Ahto is actually rather against The Society…”

“In what way?” Jekyll’s tone was slightly less cheerful now, and his gaze was just a little more intense. 

“He’s… Well, Professor Ahto’s written numerous papers on why you and the entirety of The Society was nothing but a series of hoaxes and frauds perpetrated by con-men.” Arthur mumbled out the response quickly, just wanting to get it out of the way. 

Dr. Jekyll fell silent, just simply digesting the information that he had been given. 

It was in that silence that Arthur began wishing that Terra would come back already so he didn’t have to go into much detail about all the slanderous things Ahto had said about The Society Of Arcane Science. 

Be careful what you wish for, Terra burst in about three minutes into the awkward silence looking mildly infuriated. “You couldn't have waited one day for me to look into it and get him out legally? You had to put yourself in danger and almost give Dr. Drear a sedative overdose? You had to use your real name and have the city of London put a warrant out for your arrest? You HAD to do what a man who you haven’t spoken to in years told you to do with no questions asked?” She turned to Jekyll, “Hello I’m Dr. Dagenhart, nice to meet you.” Most of the anger had retreated for the greeting but it could still be heard in the back of her voice.

Arthur didn’t reply, staring at his feet like a child who had been caught in a lie. He wasn’t even sure what to say, how was he supposed to defend himself when he had been a complete idiot throughout the whole ordeal? 

Dr. Jekyll was the one to speak first, clearing his throat to politely break the silence in the room. 

“In Arthur’s defense, Dr.Drear wasn’t very competent, at least concerning my treatment.” 

Arthur nearly breathed a sigh of relief before Jekyll continued. “That being said, the actions he took were quite drastic..”

Arthur realized that now both Jekyll and Terra now wished for an explanation from him. 

“I.. I.. Just thought that it was the right thing to do..” Arthur eventually squeaked out, still not making eye contact with anyone in the room. “And.. James seemed to know what was best to do.” 

“James just had you do something that could ruin your entire life.” Terra said bluntly. “I can’t argue about getting Jekyll out being the right thing, because from what I’ve read from his files, he’s sane and safe. The other one isn't but we can work on that.” She takes a deep breath, “I’m making dinner, just sit there and think about what you’ve done and what you’re going to do to be better.” She leaves for the kitchen, giving Jekyll a nod on the way there.

Arthur placed his head in his hands, his glasses being pushed off of his face in the process. 

“What was I supposed to do?!” He mumbled, rubbing at his temples furiously as his thoughts went into overdrive. “Was I supposed to say no?! How am I supposed to do that?!” Arthur almost whimpered.

Jekyll was silent, not very comfortable with the notion that Dr. Dagenhart knew about his.. other side. He was incredibly relieved that Arthur had not questioned him, even if it did mean that something else was going awry.

  
_ “How cruel of you Henry. You’re actually glad that Prince Charming is having a meltdown just because it prevents you from having to answer uncomfortable questions?”  _ Hyde whispered inside Jekyll’s head, and Jekyll could hear the scorn in his other halfs voice. 

He considered reaching out to comfort Arthur, but the frantic muttering of the other man wasn’t exactly helping him in deciding how to go about comforting him. At the end, he simply reached out and patted the man's back, hoping that it would somehow help. His actions were slightly awkward and stiff, but the thought was obviously there. He was praying that the doctor would be back soon, because it didn’t seem like Arthur was even remotely close to calming down.

After a few more minutes of silence and awkward back strokes, Arthur’s hands finally moved away from his face and he retrieved his glasses. He seemed to have calmed down slightly, he was still muttering about how he should have said no. 

Terra came in a few minutes later with two glasses of lemonade for her guests, “I’m making shepherds pie and salad, is that ok?” She asks, putting the glasses down in front of them. She takes a long look at Arthur before putting her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry I was short with you, but what you did was dangerous and I’m really worried about you Arthur.” Her voice was soft and sad, completely devoid of the anger it had held earlier.

Arthur didn’t really reply besides a weak nod and merely sipped at his lemonade. Dr. Jekyll took this opportunity to stop patting Arthur’s back, and to stand up and walk to Terra, a smile on his face.“That sounds quite lovely. But I would… quite appreciate it if you didn’t bring up.. the other man. In front of Mr. Grimes.” At the last part, his voice dropped to a whisper and he glanced over at Arthur. 

_ “Trying to hide me again?”  _ Hyde’s voice was bitter inside the echo chamber of Jekyll’s mind. 

But Jekyll didn’t allow that to be shown, instead keeping the slightly pleading smile on his face. 

Terra looked confused and then mildly exasperated, “It’s not really something you can hide for very long, it would also be dangerous and irresponsible not to warn someone you’re probably going to spend a lot of time with about it.” The scolding was gentle but scolding nonetheless. “And he certainly won’t judge you for it, that’s not how his mind works.” She looks back to Arthur. “Do you need anything?”

Dr. Jekyll didn’t seem very pleased with her answer. But kept his smile on nonetheless. Arthur looked up at Terra, the lemonade seeming to have calmed his nerves. 

“I need to figure out what I’m going to do or where I’m going to stay.. I can’t go back to the Professors.. He’ll turn me in immediately. And James isn’t exactly-“ He cut himself off, it wasn’t time to bring James into the conversation.

Jekyll was in silent thought for a moment before he spoke up. “I have an idea of where we might be able to find a safe place! If it’s still standing that is.” 

Arthur turned towards Dr. Jekyll, a confused expression on his face. 

“Where is that?”

Jekyll’s expression momentarily brightened. “The Society! But as I said… If it hasn’t been demolished.” His face fell slightly at that. 

“You can go looking tomorrow.” Terra told him firmly, “Right now you need a hot meal and a good night’s sleep.” She paused, “And a shower. I’ll see if Ican find you a change of clothes.” She stood up and started making her way to the back of the house.

“Well, In my experience ma’am, the police don’t exactly wait for the morning!” Jekyll called after her .

“You’ve been arrested?” Arthur asked Jekyll, eyeing him over his glass of lemonade with a slightly shocked expression on his face. 

“W-what?! Of course not. It’s just.. common knowledge is it not?” Dr. Jekyll waved the question away with a wave of his hand. “It was just.. A poorly timed use of an expression.”

_ “How long do you plan to keep me hidden Henry? I promise that I'll be extra nice to Prince Charming.”  _ Hyde said smugly. 

“And doctor, I highly doubt I need much more sleep. I was kept sedated for the better part of the eighty years I was kept in that cell.” Jekyll added. “Don’t you agree Arthur?” He turned to face the blonde on the couch, who was far beyond listening to him at this point.

Instead, Arthur was curled up on the couch glasses having been displaced to his forehead as his head had sunk into the cushions, now fast asleep. 

Terra takes a blanket off the back of the couch and gently lays it over Arthur. “The suggestion of sleep wasn't for you.” She tells Henry, looking rather tired herself. “The police won’t find you here, it’s warded. So just relax and take care of yourself for a bit, dinner will be ready in an hour so I’d shower now if I was you.”

“I guess a shower on my own terms would be nice for a change. I must thank you for not mentioning  _ him _ around Mr. Grimes… He seems to be a fine young man. And I don’t wish to make a bad impression.” Dr. Jekyll replied glancing back at Arthur. 

_ “You have a point Henry, there is something quite fine about Prince Charming.”  _ Hyde snickered. 

Jekyll’s cheeks flushed up suddenly, seemingly without explanation. 

“B-by the way what do you mean by wards doctor?” Jekyll asked, trying to get his mind off of Hyde’s taunts. 

Terra opens a closet and rifles around until she finds a pair of old pajamas. “You don’t have to be part of that society of yours to study arcane science.” She hands him the worn cotton pajamas, they had little bugs on them, earwigs Jekyll thinks. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.” And Terra leaves to check on the potatoes.

Dr. Jekyll excused himself to the bathroom to make himself more presentable. After all a gentleman couldn’t go to dinner looking raggedy could he? 

His assumption about how nice a noninstitution shower would be was quite correct, he finally had a bath with hot water! He quickly changed into the pajamas provided for him, feeling quite freshened up. As he stepped out of the room, the smell of peppermint followed him, stronger now than it was at Willowbrook. 

“Now that is much better!” He exclaimed, adjusting his clothes slightly. 

He looked over at the couch, to see Arthur was still fast asleep on the couch. He smiled at the sight. Arthur looked quite peaceful, and much less stressed than he was at the hospital. Now that Jekyll was given a chance to really look at Arthur, he realized that Arthur was a rather attractive man, even if he was rather disheveled at the moment. 

_ “Checking out Prince Charming are we?”  _ Hyde seemed quite amused, causing Jekyll to flush red once again. 

“Be quiet Edward.” Jekyll said, not very concerned with being caught scolding Hyde out loud.

“So his name is Edward?” Asked Terra suddenly from the kitchen doorway, “Odd name for a sentient concentration of depravity. They normally have dramatic names like Mortalitus or Beelzebub, but then again I’ve never seen one sharing a body with a human before.” 

“Excuse me?” Jekyll was caught off guard, having never really gotten that comment before. “A sentient concentration of depravity? What do you mean?” 

_ “What in god's name is she talking about?”  _ Hyde grumbled. 

“Do you have a better description for him? I suppose parasitic gremlin personality would do but it’s not as concise.” Terra looked thoughtful, “Also gremlins are their own species, while Edward would still technically be human, possibly pseudo-demonic.”

“Pseduo-demonic? I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” Jekyll shook his head in confusion. “Are you implying that I’m possessed in some way? Because I assure you that’s not true.”

_ “Let me out and I’ll give her a real good description of me.”  _ Hyde hissed.

“No.” 

“Oh, no! If you were possessed it would be obvious, pseudo demonic is a term for people that could be argued to be demonic or have demonic aspects but are not technically a demon. It can be a strange category.” She shrugs. “But in the end he’s whatever he wants to call himself, within reason.” She seemed to be waiting for more questions.

“He calls himself Edward Hyde. Sometimes I call him a nuisance. Which he’s been ever since Arthur freed me. I can hardly handle his… insinuations about one certain individual.” Jekyll mumbled, seemingly mostly to himself. “I’m not sure where you heard of him?” Jekyll asked, seemingly slightly ruffled. 

“There were pictures of him in the old files, most of them blurry but still discernible. And as long as his little crush on Arthur stays as a few intrusive thoughts it shouldn’t be anything to worry about.” Terra took on an amused smile, her voice teasing.

“W-what?!” Jekyll sputtered out.

“ _ You should correct her Henry. It’s your crush not mine.” _

“Oh shut up!” Jekyll mumbled.

_ “Admit it, you fell for Prince Charming the moment he scooped you up.”  _ Hyde teased even more.

“We are not discussing this.” Jekyll snapped. 

“Are you talking to me or Edward?” Terra asked, “It’s a little hard to tell.”

“He’s implying that I somehow..fallen. For a person I met today!” Jekyll mumbled. “Oh? Talking to Edward. He’s being rather persistent.” He answered Terras' question rather awkwardly.

Terra now looked like a cat who’d gotten away with eating the entire thanksgiving turkey. “You like Arthur, don’t you Henry?”

“W-what?! Are you implying I’ve fallen for someone I’ve just met?!” Jekyll stammered now looking quite like a bright red canary trapped under a cat’s watchful gaze. “I mean he’s a fine young man but-!” 

“ _ Fine _ is he?” She had a full on smirk now. Terra did so love to tease.

“He seems to be a man of good quality! Of good morals!!” Jekyll sputtered. “Why would I ever fall for him in the course of one day?! That simply doesn’t make sense!” Jekyll insisted, his face still bright red. 

“And yet, it happened.” Terra’s smirk turned back into a kind smile, “Do wake him up for me, it’s dinner time.” She strolls back into the kitchen looking more chipper than she had all day.

Jekyll had to wait until his flushing subsided to wake up Arthur. It was going to be an interesting dinner to say the least.


	4. Chapter Four: The Society

Arthur was woken up quite abruptly, partly by the sensation of something walking on his bed and then fully by the many kisses of the fluffy ball known as Cornelius. Arthur sat up sputtering, searching around for his glasses as Cornelius continued his affectionate assault. 

“Down Cornelius! Down!” Arthur weakly pleaded, trying to calm the fluffball down as he finally managed to get his glasses on.

He slowly got up, instinctively trying not to make much noise. He turned to see that Dr. Jekyll was still asleep, and was a little relieved that Cornelius had not made his assault on the poor doctor yet. And as though even the thought alone had summoned him, Cornelius shot past Arthur and jumped onto Jekyll, waking up the poor doctor almost immediately. Despite him sympathizing with the man as he tried to get up with Cornelius on top of him, he had to hold back his laughter even as he was forced to intervene and pull the fluff ball away from Jekyll. 

Dr. Jekyll stood up, looking rather flustered and quickly trying to tidy himself up, trying to look as professional as he could while still wearing earwig pajamas. 

“Well, that was quite the awakening. Now..” Jekyll thought for a moment before clapping his hands together, smiling. “We have a mission Mr. Grimes!” 

“And that is?” Arthur asked, still a bit groggy despite Cornelius still trying to jump into his arms. 

“What else Mr. Grimes? We need to investigate to see if The Society is still standing!” Jekyll announced, beginning to walk towards the door with Arthur following behind, Cornelius in hand. 

“Doctor?” Jekyll called out, almost hoping that he and Arthur could sneak out without Terra noticing.

But Jekyll had stopped half way to the front door, probably because of the rather intimidating black shape lying in front of it. The large dog raised her head and looked at Henry as if to say “Nice try human.” 

Henry grumbled a little, upset that his plan had been foiled. Arthur smiled at the large dog and put down Cornelius. 

“Hey Shera, would you mind moving out of the way for us?” He asked her softly, hoping that the large dog would oblige. 

“Yes, that would be quite good!” Jekyll mumbled, sounding a bit impatient, despite the fact that he would look quite ridiculous walking around London in pajamas. 

Shera gazed at them, thoroughly unimpressed for a few moments before resting her head on her paws and closing her eyes in an attempt to continue her interrupted dozing. Cornelius had run out of the room and come back with a rubber ball, it was dropped in front of the humans.

Jekyll groaned internally and walked towards Shera, his arms crossed.

“You know, you could get back to your nap sooner if you would allow me and Mr. Grimes past.” Henry’s tone was reminiscent of a school teacher asking a naughty child to please follow instructions. 

“Dr. Jekyll, I don’t think that will really work. From my experience, Shera doesn’t move unless she wants to.. No matter how nicely you ask her.” Arthur had a small smile on his face as he said this, remembering how he had learned that particular fact about Terra’s other canine companion. 

“Well, how are we supposed to get to The Society?!” Jekyll exclaimed, sounding exasperated.

“By car after breakfast.” Terra responded as she came into the room, “What would you like on your pancakes?” She asked sweetly, obviously a morning person. Her green plaid flannel pajamas were mostly covered by a bathrobe bedecked in images of various breakfast foods. She even had grizzly bear slippers.

“I’m not very picky with pancakes.” Jekyll mumbled, upset but also slightly cheered by the idea of pancakes. God, he couldn’t remember when he had them last. 

“Chocolate!” Arthur exclaimed excitedly, his stomach growling preemptively with excitement. Which was mirrored by the bouncing Cornelius besides him. 

They were ushered into the kitchen where they were quickly given fresh cups of coffee from an already full and steaming pot to drink while they waited for their food. Terra, in her wisdom, had put low caffeine grounds in the machine the night before, knowing that Jekyll, after so many years without the stuff might go overboard. She’d also set out cream, sugar, and cocoa powder to be added by the boys themselves.

  
  


“So how are you two this morning? Did you sleep well?” She asked while cracking eggs into a bowl. From looking at all the ingredients she had pulled out you could tell she was making more than just pancakes.

Arthur quickly set about pouring himself a cup of coffee and adding quite a bit of cocoa, sugar, and cream to his coffee, while Dr. Jekyll simply just took coffee and drank it without any sort of additives. 

“I slept fine, Cornelius gave me quite the wake up!” Arthur answered her question cheerily, taking some sips from his coffee cup.

Jekyll drank his entire cup before speaking. “I slept well enough I suppose.” He reached for the coffee pot, intending to give himself another cup. The smell of the cooking breakfast made his stomach growl, but he attempted to ignore it. 

“Also I was quite hoping to get an early start on finding The Society. I’m quite concerned about it.” 

Terra looked at the tiny dog by her feet, “Did you wake Arthur? Did you give him a spook?” She asked Cornelius in a high, happy voice. The dog yipped in agreement not knowing what was actually said but liking the tone of voice. 

“He woke me up as well.” Jekyll mumbled while drinking down his second cup of coffee. 

“He decided to wake us up very affectionately.” Arthur smiled at Cornelius, obviously not having been very bothered by it. 

Jekyll smiled at Arthur unknowingly over his third coffee cup, having been cheered slightly by Arthur's attitude. 

“Isn’t Prince Charming just so adorable?” Hyde snickered.

Terra laughed “It’s his favorite part of the day I’m afraid, he just can’t conceive of a day without morning cuddles.” Cornilius drove this point home by laying on Arthur’s feet. Soon large plates of food were put in front of the boys. Fluffy pancakes as promised with a side of sausages and cheesy scrambled eggs containing mushrooms, onions and spinach. While Arthur had gotten the chocolate pancakes he requested Henry had gotten what appeared to be pancakes cooked with thin slices of apple inside, the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg wafted from them making his mouth water. Terra herself had piled her plate with banana pancakes shed smeared with peanut butter. “Dig in! And don’t be afraid to ask for more of anything.” 

Jekyll and Arthur dug in immediately, both enjoying the quality breakfast that had been provided. Arthur always enjoyed Terra’s cooking, and it sometimes made the food that either he or Ahto slightly harder to stomach, so he was savoring it as much as he could. Henry was enjoying the breakfast not only because it was quality but because unlike what he had been fed at Willowbrook, it had flavor! 

While Arthur took a second set of pancakes, Jekyll resisted the temptation to indulge himself further, reminding himself that no matter how tasty it was, a distraction was still a distraction. But, he did take another cup of coffee. 

“I must compliment your cooking doctor. It is quite extraordinary!” His face looked sad for a second before he seemed to shake it off. “But, we will be leaving shortly right?”

Terra pushed more food onto his plate anyways, “Thank you! My kids could be rather picky growing up so I had to learn all sorts of little tricks to get them to clean their plate.” She put the now empty coffee pot back in the machine and set it to refill so she and Arthur could have some more. “We’ll head out in an hour or so, I need to feed the dogs and chicken, and I’m sure Arthur wants a shower.” She takes another pancake for herself. “We’d get there about the same time anyways with the rush hour.”

Jekyll didn’t bother to question her about what exactly “rush hour” was, since he knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere. He picked at his food, eventually giving into the tasty temptation. 

“I suppose I shouldn’t go around London in pajamas either.” He stated as he finished off his plate.   
  
Arthur had left the table after a last cup of coffee, his departure to the shower being observed ratherly intently by Jekyll.   
“Hate to see him go, but you do so love to watch him walk away, don’t you Henry?” Henry scoffed at Hydes teasing and once again flushed a little bit. 

“It’s too early for this. It's too early for you.” He mumbled, his head resting in his hands. 

“I think my son Anthony left some of his suits here last time he visited, they’ll be a touch big on you but you’ll still look very respectable.” Terra said, ignoring Henry’s mumblings. “Do you have a preference for color?”

“I quite prefer the classic black of a suit. I’ve found it suits me quite well.” Henry answered quickly, rather eager to get out of the pajamas. ”And looking respectable is quite a boon indeed.” Jekyll wiped the remaining food from the sides of his mouth, and had to stop himself from grabbing another cup of coffee. “Doctor, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.. Mr. Grimes mentioned someone by the name of “Professor Ahto” has been slandering The Society in my absence. Do you know anything about this individual?” 

Terra picked up Cornelius to cuddle while she talked. “He’s a bitter misanthrope suffering from delusions of grandeur and has an unhealthy habit of emotionally manipulating and trapping those he feels any affection for. He has a medical condition that confines him to a wheelchair and causes him a large amount of paranoia. He’s not an evil man, but he is motivated mostly by fear and greed. He feels he needs to have more than others to be important. That’s all I can give you without actually having been his psychologist.” 

“I see. That worries me a little bit, due to Mr. Grimes apparently being his ward… They aren’t father and son are they?” Henry asked, his voice laced with concern. He couldn’t imagine that a man like that could be related to Arthur in any way. The worry had cooled his temper somewhat, but he still felt quite peeved. 

“Oh certainly not! He was taken in by Ahto after the death of his parents.” Terra explained, alleviating Henry’s fears. “Arthur’s older brother James however is a megalomaniacal psychopath that will use any chance he has to obtain more power, luckily he's not the brightest crayon in the box so he’s very easy to see through if you’re paying attention. Sadly he’s had his claws in Arthur since birth, I’m working on that though. Just ignore him if he talks to you, if you don’t feed his ego he’ll go away.” And now the fear was back.

“Oh dear.” Henry murmured. He wasn’t really looking forward to meeting this “James”. That is if he couldn’t find some way to avoid it. 

Arthur emerged from the bathroom, looking slightly more glum. “Well, I’m certainly ready to go, I had to answer quite a few texts from the Professor about my whereabouts…” He mumbled. 

Terra rolled her eyes. “He can last the day without you, he’s a grown man.” She opens the door to the closet, rifling through the many colorful articles until she finds what she was looking for. “My son is a bit flashy so there’s nothing in full black, will this due Henry?” She asks, pulling out a neatly arranged full suit outfit draped and clipped to a hanger.

“That will do quite nicely.” Henry quickly replied, carefully taking the suit from Terra and moving to get some privacy to change. 

When Jekyll was out of sight Arthur turned to a Terra, looking a little sheepish. “I also got some messages from James.. But I haven’t answered them.” He admitted, seemingly ashamed of himself. 

“Leave him on read, he almost got you killed yesterday.” Terra told him. “I’m sure he’ll pop up exactly when we shouldn’t anyways.” 

Before Arthur could reply, Jekyll sauntered into view. He had managed to put on the suit, and while it had taken him a fair bit of effort he had managed to make it fit him rather well. 

He looked quite dashing in the suit, it’s black and red colouring complimenting Jekyll's features quite well. He had obviously fixed his hair, since it was no longer as unkempt as it had been. He had a bright smile on his face, almost sparkling somehow. He truly did look like a gentleman, a sort of prince that one would see in movies. 

He was so dashing in fact that it almost brought a blush to Arthur’s face, but the blonde managed to somehow maintain his composure. 

“You look very nice Dr. Jekyll.” Arthur commented, hoping his voice wasn’t betraying him. 

“Thank you Mr. Grimes! I think I managed to make it work well enough for myself!” Henry replies, turning his radiant smile first to Arthur and then to Terra. “Now, I do believe that is all! I am quite eager to be off. I cannot wait to show The Society off!” 

Arthur nodded, shoving his phone into his pocket as soon as he felt the telltale notification vibration. He didn’t want to deal with James currently.

“... I’m still in my pajamas but I’ll just take a minute.” Terra pointed out before quickly scurrying off to her room. Meanwhile Shera had gotten up pushing at Arthur’s hand with her nose to signal she wanted something. Cornelius had retrieved his leash and was sitting in front of them wagging his tail, giving a pretty big hint as to what the dogs wanted.

“I can handle this Dr. Jekyll.” Arthur insisted, grabbing the leashes, and carefully placing them on the dogs, making sure to give them both affectionate pets. He stood up, a leash in each hand. 

“Truly, a master of the hounds.” Jekyll chuckled, allowing himself to also give the hounds in question some much deserved affection.

Arthur turned his slightly red face away, muttering something before turning back. 

“They’re just used to me.” He answered sheepishly. 

“But they certainly seem to like you.” Henry commented, giving Cornelius an extra pat. 

Terra came out dressed in jeans and a green argyle sweater, she smiled when she saw her dogs. “Oh good you got them all ready! Is the society in walking distance or will we have drive? It’s a lovely day for a nice long walk.” 

“Well, “ Dr. Jekyll held his chin in his hand in thought. “Back then it would take a carriage ride to get from High Street to the Society.. So it depends on where we are currently.” He answered, looking over at Terra. Due to the state he had been brought here in, he simply had no idea.

“We’re in Hayes, so we’ll have to take the car.” Terra told him. “Arthur do you mind driving?” Terra hated driving, said it felt deeply unnatural.

“The horseless carriage?” Jekyll asked excitedly, a childlike shine of wonder coming to his eyes. 

“Of course I’ll drive!” Arthur replied, though he was wondering if there was enough room in his car. “Er, Dr. Jekyll.. You don’t mind sitting in the back with the dogs right?” He looked a little embarrassed.

“Oh! I wouldn’t mind at all!” Jekyll replied, even if he was still a little intimidated by Shera. 

“Well then! I suppose we should go to the car.” Arthur chirped, heading towards the door, all the while ignoring the buzzing phone in his pocket. 

The car ride was long and loud, with Henry asking several questions at a time about what he was seeing outside his window and the car itself while Terra and Arthur took turns answering. Cornelius was snuggling into Jekyll’s lap and yipping when Henry got especially excited over a new fact. Shera was mostly content to stick her nose out her half open window but did have a brief barking fit when she saw a fox lurking on the side of the road. Terra had put on some music but with Jekyll’s questions about how she could play music with no band it was more background noise. Arthur tried to keep up with the conversation but was mainly focused on driving, which meant his friends had to often repeat things and on instinct, at a louder volume. 

“Stop the carriage! Right here!” Jekyll suddenly tapped Arthur on the shoulder causing him to come to a sudden stop. 

“Dr. Jekyll you can’t just-“ Arthur turned around to give Jekyll a lecture about surprising the driver, but Henry was already getting out of the car. “....I guess we’re here.” Arthur mumbled to the remaining passengers before getting out of the car himself.

By the time they had caught up with Jekyll he was standing in front of a large building, one with many strange fixtures on the roof. 

“It’s here! It’s still here! Oh thank god!” Dr. Jekyll was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

“It’s covered in graffiti but otherwise it looks untampered with.” Terra observed while admiring a particularly inoffensive mural of neon colored cats smoking blunts. Inoffensive compared to the rest of the art anyway.

As Arthur was staring at a particular piece that was saying something very unkind about his mother, Jekyll finally managed to pry the doors open. And without quite realizing he was doing it, he seized Arthur’s wrists and pulled him inside.

The inside of The Society was frankly quite spooky, with silhouettes of arcane and strange devices and decoration surrounding him. 

“We need some more light in here.” Henry mumbled before clapping his hands twice, then looking rather annoyed when it didn’t produce any results. “Well we don’t need it anyway.” He grumbled and immediately set off up a nearby staircase, leaving Arthur alone in the lobby with Terra and the dogs. 

“So this is it?” He asked, both in awe and slightly disappointed. He had been expecting Frankensteinesque tables and Tesla coils to dominate the place, but as long as Frankenstein’s creature wasn’t hiding in one of the shadowed corners, he was perfectly fine with what he had gotten. 

Terra put her phone on flashlight mode and looked around, everything was covered in dust, cobwebs, and by the smell of it an army of rats had made their home here. “It needs a lot of cleaning but the building itself looks very sturdy. I could certainly see it as a multi purpose lab with a bit of elbow grease.” 

“It just needs some renovat-“ Jekyll attempted to say before he nearly fell through the bottom step. “As the doctor said, just a little fixing up..” He mumbled, Arthur helping to pull the man to his feet. 

“And those will cost a pretty penny I reckon.” A voice spoke from the doorway, causing both Jekyll and Arthur to whirl around like two interrupted waltz partners. 

And there he was, standing in the doorway with a smug expression on his face. “Repairing the stairs, cleaning out everything… And don’t get me started on the graffiti!” James dramatically threw his hands up in the air. 

“Good morning James, or it was until you got here.” Terra said with a sigh. “And there are plenty of other places to get money, you’re not our only hope Obi Wan.”

“Yes, but I’m the only one who is willing to offer it now. I highly doubt that many other people will fund such a...unique institution.” James said, ignoring Terra and walking towards Jekyll, offering his hand. “James Doyle.”

Jekyll didn’t take the offered hand. “Dr. Henry Jekyll. And while it’s wonderful that you are so willing to give funding.. I cannot help but suspect that there is a catch. Mr. Doyle.” His eyes were narrowed suspiciously at James. 

“Catch? There aren't any!” James acted as though he was offended by the mere notion that he wasn’t offering this from the milk of human kindness. “Can’t a man donate to a scientific institution dedicated to helping the advancement of human scientific knowledge without being suspected of foul play?!” 

“Not when one of these machines you’re looking to finance literally has the words ‘Doomsday Device Prototype’ written on it.” Terra said, pointing to a half finished egg shaped device with the name written on it in large red letters. Meanwhile the dogs were walking over to sniff the newcomer.

“That one was Frankenstein’s idea. She insisted on it… I’ll have to get it removed.” Jekyll mumbled, eyeballing the device.

“I’m not interested in that Dr. Dagenhart, I’m offended that you think so low of me!” He moved away from the dogs, a slight look of disgust on his face as he pushed Cornelius away from him. “But back to my point, this institution needs funding, and I have the funds… I highly doubt even two men of your talents can get the necessary funds required.”

“But the cat-“ Henry began, he was very tempted to accept the offer, but he didn’t feel like taking the chance to trust James. 

“And considering The Society’s history with finances…No bank in the world would lend you a single pound.” That sentence shut Jekyll right up. “I however…”

He however had not noticed Shera walking slowly up to him until he felt a large glob of her drool hit his shoe with a splat. It still had egg in it from breakfast. It sincerely hurt Terra not to laugh maniacally.

James hissed and quickly pulled out a handkerchief, doing his best to clean the mess off his shoe, but it still would leave some marks. He swore under his breath before standing up again, smiling at Jekyll. “So, what do you think?” 

When Dr. Jekyll looked up, he had a grimace on his face as he faced James. 

“You swear there isn’t a catch?” He asked, his composure seeming to break for a moment as it almost came out as a desperate plea. 

James’s smile widened. “Not a single catch. Do you accept?” He asked, holding out his hand once again. 

“..Yes.” Dr. Jekyll answered, his voice quiet and defeated. He took James’s hand and shook it, sealing the deal between the two men. 

“‘Twas a pleasure Dr. Jekyll.” James said as he released his hand and began sauntering towards the door. “I can’t wait to see what The Society of Arcane Science can do.”

Terra glared briefly at Jekyll before pulling out her phone. “I’m calling you a lawyer, god knows you'll need one.”

As Dr. Henry Jekyll was left standing in the darkness, he couldn’t help but feel he may have made the second biggest mistake in his life. 

  
  


Chapter Five: A Grand Introduction


	5. Chapter Five: A Grand Introduction

Dr. Henry Jekyll sat hunched over a desk, furiously working to chip away at the mountain of work in front of him. The renovations and general revitalizing of The Society of Arcane Science had proved to be a monumental task, with only a two man army to take it on. Him and Arthur had been squeezed into a small office and forced into a work schedule that if they had not agreed to allow each other to sleep in shifts, would rival that of the local emergency room. Arthur was now off fetching some more records, which Jekyll could faintly hear him doing across the hall. 

_ “Henry..” _

“No. I need to work Edward.” Henry growled, trying to focus back on the paper in front of him. 

_ “And what? Drive yourself insane? Henry, you’ve been at this for days! You have a whole world to explore after you’ve been freed from that institution, and you’re choosing to spend it cooped up here?!” Hyde sounded exasperated. _

“I would love to go out and explore, but I can’t. God knows I would! But I’m not going to leave all this work to Arthur-” Henry tried to explain until he was interrupted by Hyde.

_ “And what? Wait until you go insane and lash out? What happens if Prince Charming sees you at your worst? What happens if you hurt him hmm? And then lose the only ally you have right now?’ _

Henry placed his head in his hands. As much as he hated to admit it, Hyde was right, if he kept it up he would eventually snap. 

_ “But I know a way we can solve that little problem! Let yourself have one little night of fun!”  _ Hyde chirped, smiling at Jekyll from the glass of water in front of him. 

“But I can’t do that! What if Mr. Doyle finds out! He might cut our funding-”

“That's where I come in! He won’t suspect a thing if I’m out and about instead! Come on Henry.. Just one little night? Pretty please?” Hyde seemed to almost beg, causing Henry to sigh in defeat. 

“Fine. Just one night. But.. Don’t cause too much trouble.” Dr. Jekyll mumbled, grabbing a flask from his desk, looking at it for a moment before drinking from it. 

It took a few minutes before Jekyll crumbled to the floor, and when he rose from the floor, it certainly wasn’t Henry Jekyll anymore. 

Edward sang a merry tune as he quickly dressed up, hat? Check. Green accents to attire? Check. Cape with premade holes in it for the aesthetic? Double check! 

Hyde kicked open the door to the lobby, startling Shera out of her nap. 

“Sorry Doggy! But I’m headed out for a night on the town!” Hyde chirped, beginning to make his way towards the door. 

Shera didn’t know who this small man was, but he seemed friendly and she’d been brought up to be polite, so she walked up to give his hand a sniff. He smelled odd but so did a lot of the people Shera met, so she ignored it in favor of giving his arm a friendly headbutt.

“I can’t pet you now doggie, the world is my oyster!” Hyde said, sounding a bit regretful. “Well maybe just a little bit!” Hyde leaned down as much as necessary, which wasn’t much, and began to pet her. “You won’t tell the doctor what’s going on here right?” 

It was unfortunate that it was in that moment when Arthur had finally emerged from the other room, carrying a box of files. 

What followed was a moment of pure silence as Arthur and Hyde made eye contact. 

“Who-“ Arthur began to before he was cut off. 

“Well well Prince Charming! I don’t suppose I can’t convince you to drop those books and come with me for some fun?” Hyde said, his green eyes gleaming.

“What? W-who are you? Where’s Jekyll?” Arthur asked, his voice shaking and books shaking as he slowly backed away from Hyde. 

“I guess I can’t. And Jekyll is… Preoccupied at the moment but don’t worry! He’ll be back by morning!” Hyde replied, beginning to walk towards the door once again. “I’ll be back as well! Don’t bother waiting up for me! But it would be sweet if you left a light on for me!” 

“....Wait!” Arthur dropped the books and began following Hyde trying to grab his cape as he slipped out of the door, missing completely as he fell on his face. “Shera! Guard the building! I’ve got to catch this guy!” Arthur managed to say as he got up and ran out after Hyde. 

Shera heard the word ‘guard’ and immediately went to sit in the middle of the room to stare at the door Arthur had just left through. At least she’d gotten to nap for a little bit.

In the race between Arthur and Hyde, it was clear who was winning. But Hyde supposed he did have an unfair advantage, considering how he was smaller, faster, a bit more agile, and the fact that his opponent was fueled by two thermoses of coffee and about three hours of sleep. Plus, he couldn’t really keep up while trying to call someone on the witch tablet he called a “phone.” 

But despite this, Arthur was gaining some ground until Hyde reached the fire escape. He gave a small wink to Arthur as he climbed up the fire escape and to the roof. 

“Bye bye Prince Charming!” Hyde called as he left Arthur behind at the fire escape. It was going to be a good night. 

Arthur took a few moments to catch his breath before he called Terra. 

“H-hey Terra.. I need some help…” He practically huffed into the phone.

“Can it wait an hour for me to finish my paperwork or is this an emergency?” Terra asked, Arthur could hear her scribbling down notes and signatures through the phone. Terra had taken a day off to help them set up a bit in the society and thus had quite a bit of work piled up.

“Umm… Well.. Jekyll is missing and I’ve been chasing this guy who just ran out of The Society… And he just escaped from me on a rooftop..” Arthur explained, sounding out of breath. “I think I might try to go on the rooftop to start chasing him again.” 

“No.” Was Terra’s response, “Stay on the ground and try to keep an eye on him so you can update me on his location, I’ll be there soon. Text me if he changes direction.” She hung up before Arthur could protest.

Arthur gave a sigh but followed her instructions, watching as Hyde skipped and flitted across the rooftops, eventually climbing down to a drain pipe and landing on the street. He sauntered towards the Hilton, a large smile on his face. 

“I really should have gotten some more sleep.”

It had only been about an hour before Hyde was able to comfortably blend in with the other patrons at the bar, flirting with anyone in sight and mooching some drinks off of others. 

It was a perfect night, and Jekyll wasn’t even complaining that much! Even if he had been a little grumbly about how he had given Prince Charming the slip. But he was sure Arthur could find his way home. 

Nothing could possibly go wrong! It was his night! The Spirit of London at Night was back, and nothing could ruin this! 

“Edward, you've given Arthur a terrible fright, I must ask you to come back to the society with me to explain the situation.” Terra stood behind him with her arms crossed and voice firm, she was rather miffed that Jekyll hadn’t told Arthur about his condition despite Terra’s direction to.

Hyde spat out the beer that he had been enjoying, before quickly turning around to face her. 

_ “Oh god. We’re in trouble”  _ Jekyll moaned inside of Hyde’s head. 

“Not if she can’t catch me!” Hyde repliedaloud, quickly removing himself from the bar and running towards the hotel stairs. “Sorry Doctor, but I’ll be coming back when I’m in the mood to!” 

Terra went after him, her longer legs clearing the distance faster but her large size made maneuvering through the crowd challenge. Once she made it to the stairs she started to close the distance very quickly. “You’d really rather spend the evening running in fear then having an honest conversation?” Terra called to him, exasperated. 

“You’re talking to the wrong one Doc! I’m just here for a night of fun! Henry’s the one running!” 

Hyde called back, continuing his run up the stairs, though complimenting it with a few skips and jumps. “I’m sure Prince Charming will be just fine for a night!” 

“Those look a little short to be Henry’s legs.” Terra jabbed, only a few feet away now. “And what a sweet thing to call Arthur, you must like him quite a bit.” She smirked as she reached out to grab him by the back of his collar.

“Hey! Let me go!” Hyde shouted in surprise, struggling to get away. 

_ “Oh now we’ve done it.” _ Henry whispered nervously. 

“Arthur knows everything! He said I could go out for a night!” Edward lied between his teeth, hoping she hasn’t fact checked too hard. 

“Then why would he call me to come catch you?” She asked, looking amused. “For someone who probably relies quite a bit on it you’re rather bad at lying.”

“Dammit. Come on. I’m just out to have a night of fun! I’ve been working nonstop! How am I not supposed to go crazy when all I do is work?” Hyde whined.

_ “We should just give up..”  _ Jekyll mumbled. 

That just made Hyde even more determined to get out and continue his fun. “Let’s make a deal, you let me continue my night and I’ll explain everything to him in the morning.”

“Ah but you won’t be here in the morning, Jekyll will.” Terra pointed out. “And he has yet to say a thing about it to poor Arthur.” She starts descending the stairs, still holding Hyde by the collar.

“Then that’s his problem!” Hyde cried out, still trying to get away. “Don’t you think that Prince Charming would be better off without knowing about Henry’s little secret?” 

“No, I think it’s rather important that he knows, especially considering how close you’ve gotten.” Terra said meaningfully, Hyde would find no mercy here.

“Damnit.” Hyde muttered, crossing his arms.

_ “Arthurs going to hate me! He’s never going to trust me again!” _ Jekyll wailed. 

“And what do you mean how close we’ve gotten?! He doesn’t even know my name!” 

“Well we’ll change that as soon as we get back.” She said cheerily before setting him on the ground. “I’m going to need you to walk while we’re making our way across the lobby, I can’t carry you by the scruff of the neck out in public.”

For a moment, Hyde sat there like a pouty child, until he realized that he still probably wasn’t going to get his way. So, still with the face of an angry child got up and began walking towards the door. 

“This is unfair! Jekyll’s been having all the fun and I can’t even have one night!” 

“I’d be happy to oversee your next outing, provided you explain the situation to Arthur first.” Terra said consolingly. Cornelius, who had been waiting patiently by the front door wagged his tail as Terra picked him up before exiting the building. “I know some very nice pubs I think would be enjoyable for all of us.”

  
  


“Prince Charming wouldn’t drink something to save his life.” Hyde mumbled again as he continued to follow Terra. He wasn’t looking forward to Jekyll's whining or Arthur’s numerous questions.

_ “It’s not whining if it’s commenting on your terrible choices.” _ Jekyll huffed inside of Hyde's head. 

“All I’ve seen Prince Charming do is work and drink ludicrous amounts of coffee.” 

“Then let me be the first to let you know that Arthur can, in fact, be a lot of fun.” Mostly her experience of this came from playing board games and cards with the man while sober, but she had the utmost faith that he could be just as much of a delight in a party setting.

When they arrived back at The Society, Arthur was in the lobby next to Shera, absentmindedly petting her while he had been waiting. He visibly relaxed when he saw Terra. 

“Terra! You caught him! You didn’t happen to find Jekyll did you?” He asked, seemingly anxious. 

“Technically yes.” Terra answered before pushing Hyde forward. “I think this young man can explain it best.”

“You see Prince Charming…” Hyde began, feeling Terras eyes on him. 

_ “Oh god..” _ Jekyll whimpered.

“I’m Edward Hyde. But I’m technically also Jekyll!” Hyde explained, accenting it with dramatic hand movements. 

Arthur looked dumbfounded for a second before speaking. “Dr. Jekyll is a shapeshifter?” 

After taking a moment to process Arthur’s question, Hyde began laughing uncontrollably. 

“My god! I think that lack of sleep has given you brain damage!” 

“It’s more like, they are two individuals who share a body.” Terra said, trying to help Arthur out a bit. “Except Edward’s brain was derived from parts of Henry’s. It honestly is a bit complicated.” 

“...So it’s like two different sides of Henry manifested? That’s… strange.” Arthur mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Is Jekyll going to come back?” His voice was once again anxious. 

Hyde rolled his eyes. “You’ll get Jekyll back in the morning. No need to worry Prince Charming.” Hyde groaned.

“Why does he keep calling me that?” Arthur looked at Terra, looking more annoyed than confused now. 

“Oh he just likes you.” Terra tells him bluntly. “I think he’s trying to compliment you, he’s just not very good at it.”

“What?! How dare you accuse me of such things!” Hyde cried dramatically. “I’m being  _ sarcastic _ .” 

“Whatever.. Does this mean I have to do the work of two people for tonight at least?” Arthur asked, obviously not in his usual good humor. 

“Geez. Who pissed in Prince Charmings coffee?” Hyde mumbled, obviously hoping that he would have gotten a different reaction. 

“ArthurI think you should get some sleep, you look very tired.” Terra put a concerned hand on his shoulder and looked at him imploringly.

“I would love to, Terra but James has twelve more documents that I need to sign by morning..” Arthur grumbled. “I just need some more coffee.” 

“Going for your third thermos today?” Hyde asked teasingly, earning himself a groggy eyed glare from Arthur. 

“Well then he’s going to have to settle for ‘by noon’ because you are going to bed.” Terra said, as if it were an irrefutable fact. “There’s no reason to rush rebuilding the society, especially if it’s running you into the ground like this.”

“But Terra-“ His sentence was interrupted by a loud yawn. “Maybe I should consider it..”

“Well go ahead Prince Charming! I’m not tired so I’ll be the one awake!” Hyde replied, seeming excited to try to sneak out again. 

“And I’ll be watching him.” Terra added with a smile.

Arthur nodded, sleepily giving Shera another pat before walking towards the makeshift bedroom that he and Jekyll had meticulously set up the day before.

Hyde considered trying to sneak out, but the stares of Shera, Terra, and Cornelius told him that he wouldn’t be going anywhere, so he settled for sitting down. 

“I’m going to have to re-explain this in the morning..” Jekyll mumbled, adding to the never ending string of worries of the dear doctor.

Ignoring him, Hyde glared at Terra. 

“You’re a real killjoy you know that Doc?” 

“I didn’t say you couldn’t go out again, I just said I’d be keeping an eye on you.” Terra told him, still smiling.

“Oh? Is that right?” Hyde smiled back, and inside his head Jekyll groaned in defeat.

Maybe his night wasn’t ruined after all. 

  
  



	6. Chapter Six: A London Adventure

Dr. Jekyll woke up to a buzzing headache, which made the morning sunlight shining in his face almost painful. He rubbed his temples as he sat up, trying to fight his way out of the fog of sleep. He usually had some fuzziness in his head after a night as Hyde, but the feeling in his head could be compared to a mild hangover, possibly due to how long it had been since Edward had been allowed to roam free.

As he got up and prepared for the day, he looked towards the makeshift bed that belonged to Arthur, and was slightly surprised that he wasn’t there. For a moment, Jekyll wondered where he was, until a memory of Arthur saying something about “needing to sign documents” floated up to the surface. That memory brought up a slight twinge of guilt, since Henry imagined that Arthur had probably woken up quite early in order to complete the work he had for him. That thought spurred him to get ready faster, hoping to help Arthur, and possibly explain the night before. 

When he emerged from the room, he saw the office light was on, and Arthur's hunched over shadow creeping out. He put a large smile on his face as he pushed open the door, hoping that Arthur wasn’t in too much of a bad mood. When Arthur heard Jekyll come in, he greeted him with a smile, even if he looked slightly tired. 

“Good morning Dr. Jekyll, I hope you slept well.” Arthur said, before turning back to the workload in front of him. 

“I slept well enough I suppose,” Henry replied, before frowning slightly. “I’m..sorry about last night. I really hope he didn’t cause you too much trouble..”

Arthur took a sip from his thermos before looking up towards Henry again. “If you’re talking about Mr. Hyde… The worst he did was give me a bit of anxiety about where you were.” 

Dr. Jekyll nearly seemed to deflate with how relieved he was, he had been trying to think of how to explain everything to him as soon as he woke up. “That’s very good. I was worried that you were… mad at me.” Henry mumbled, seeming to be a little embarrassed. 

Arthur laughed a little bit before replying, “I was mostly surprised, and I’m not going to get angry at you for what he does. The only thing I could be angry about at him was not being able to get more work done, but I was likely going to pass out if I did much more anyway..” He chuckled. 

“Are there any papers for me?” Jekyll asked, sitting down next to Arthur, scanning the large amount of documents spread across the desk.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Arthur sighed as he passed a handful of papers towards Henry. “Ja- Mr. Doyle wasn’t exactly happy with not getting his papers earlier.” 

“Oh no, the rich white guy was mildly inconvenienced, what a tragedy.” Terra grumbled as she entered, sarcasm dripping from every word. “Forgive my mood but I’m both hungover and I just got some very inconvenient news.” She sits down heavily on a chair before continuing. “My coworker Dr. Drear has died unexpectedly so the hospital will be even more understaffed than usual, I’m going to be unavailable for the whole week because of all the shifts I’ll be covering.” 

Arthur’s pen dropped from his hand as an expression of horror came over his face. 

“Oh god… Did I… Oh god…” He began muttering under his breath, his hands beginning to shake. 

“What.. What happened doctor?” Dr. Jekyll asked, trying not to look over at Arthur in case it made him even more uncomfortable. “Did he die from.. A sedative overdose?” He asked Terra quietly, the possibility wasn’t high, but he couldn’t discount it. 

“No actually, his wife shot him, I don’t know why yet but I’m sure ten separate doctors will tell me within the space of an hour when I get to work.” Terra patted Arthur lightly on the shoulder in a weak attempt at comfort. “Your incident with him doesn’t even correlate.”

Arthur seemed to relax, but only slightly. “That’s horrible..” He mumbled. He didn’t show it, but he was incredibly relieved that he wasn’t guilty of murder.

“Well, I’m rather relieved that Ar- Mr. Grimes wasn’t involved in his death. Though the circumstances are rather strange.” Henry replied, rubbing his chin a little in thought. “Though, I must ask, why are you telling this to us now?” 

“Because I just got an email about it ten minutes ago and then another email about how I’d be working overtime for a month, I’m just telling you so you’ll know I won’t be around much.” Terra told him. “On that note, you two look pretty overworked yourselves.”

“Oh! We’re fine! Well, I am at least.” Arthur replied, as though he was unaware of the raccoonlike circles under his eyes and the thermos of coffee on his desk. 

“I agree with Mr. Grimes, we are quite alright!” Henry chimed in, all the while rubbing at his temples to soothe his headache. “We have a bit of work today but not too much!” He gestured towards the documents on the shared desk. 

Terra looked at the papers, then at the obviously tired men. “We’re all taking the day off, I’m not required to start this unholy amount of work until tomorrow and you two just finished an unholy amount of work.” She starts organising something on her phone. “I’m going to spend the day eating Chinese food in bed, but you two should go out and explore, Henry’s barely seen anything except the inside of this building since he left the hospital.”

“That’s probably a good idea actually.” Arthur admitted, beginning to put the papers that he was working on away.    
  
“A tour around London?!” Henry couldn’t contain his enthusiasm, and had the look of a child on christmas. The sparkle in his eyes caused Arthur to smile, despite his exhaustion. 

“I suppose we do need a little break from work.” Arthur stretched a little as he got up from his chair. The thought of spending some time doing something else besides work honestly sounded like a dream. 

“You could go to the science museum, I’m sure you’d have lots of fun there.” Terra suggested. She looked a little happier knowing the day was going to be a calm one. “Henry will be over the moon to see it all.”

“A science museum?” Henry already seemed to be over the moon at the very thought of it, he had the largest smile on his face as he watched Arthur get ready. 

“I have a few other ideas of where to go!” Arthur chirped cheerily as he pulled on some more “presentable” clothes. He was already thinking of all the things that they could do!

As Arthur was speaking, Jekyll had rushed off to change, mumbling something about “professionalism” as he did so. 

When he came back down, he was wearing what some would call his “Sunday best”, a fancy suit, top hat, and red cravat. The outfit made him look handsome enough on its own, but the near dazzling smile on his face was truly the highlight. “I do believe I am ready!” 

“So Am I!” Arthur chirped, looking equally as excited as Henry did.

“Henry, though I appreciate your sense of fashion.” Terra started, “If you go outside like that you will likely end up tossed in the Thames.” Terra confiscated the hat and cravat, “I’ll be honest, you still look mildly foppish, but at least now you won’t be egged by a band of teens.”

“He didn’t look too bad!” Arthur protested weakly, though he had to admit that Jekyll would have stood out like a sore thumb. 

Henry looked slightly disappointed at the removal of his fancier garments, but decided that as long as he got to go out, it wasn’t too much of a sacrifice. “Are we going to drive the horseless carriage or are we going to walk Mr. Grimes?” 

“I was thinking that we should walk, it's a nice day outside..” Arthur mumbled sheepishly.

“That sounds like a good plan!” Dr. Jekyll replied, walking over to Arthur. “Lead the way Mr. Grimes!” Henry bowed dramatically, gesturing towards the door. 

“Certainly Dr. Jekyll!” Arthur smiled before running towards the door, with Jekyll following him, the two grown men looking like two young boys going out to play. 

“Bye boys! Have fun!” Terra called as they were leaving. She was looking forward to a day of sloth and pampering.

  
  


As Jekyll and Arthur stepped out onto the London street, there was an audible gasp from Henry. 

“My goodness… I suppose I haven’t really realized how much London has changed during my time in the institution, everything is so much bigger.. And more crowded.” He noted, gesturing slightly towards the crowds of people around them.

“Well, things get rebuilt and renovated, like The Society… And the population has grown from about… six million to over nine million.” Arthur replied, beginning to walk towards the museum alongside Jekyll.

“Over three million people have been added here?! My goodness! I thought that London couldn’t grow any larger.” Jekyll shook his head in disbelief, making sure that he was in arms reach of Arthur in order not to get lost.

“Well, as the population grew larger so did the cities of the world! And along with that came a lot of change! Even Big Ben got a facelift!” Arthur pointed to the clock tower, causing Jekyll to gasp. 

“Oh! It only seems to be a few years ago when I was a boy and watching it being built!” Henry remarked nonchalantly, causing Arthurs jaw to drop.

“You watched Big Ben being built?!” Arthur squeaked out, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. 

“Well, I wasn’t there for all the stages of construction I’ll admit, I was there for the finishing touches!” Jekyll said sheepishly, suddenly feeling incredibly old. 

“That’s amazing!” Arthur nearly cheered, causing Jekyll to feel better about how old he was. “It must have been so fascinating!”

“Well, I wasn’t very interested in the clock at that time. You see, other events were happening at that time that were much more interesting to me.” Dr. Jekyll chuckled, remembering how he had rolled his eyes at the news about the clock. 

“Like what?” Arthur asked, pausing only to wave to a passerby. 

“Well, since I was a young boy I was incredibly interested in strange events and at the same time as Big Ben's final construction… The Creature was on a rampage!” Henry smiled, thinking about how as a boy he had searched each newspaper thoroughly for any information about it. 

“The Creature?” Arthur’s face scrunched in confusion. 

“Frankenstien’s creation of course! The creature composed of multiple dead body parts?” Dr. Jekyll questioned, an eyebrow raised at the man beside him.

“Oh! I knew about the story but.. I didn’t believe it.” Arthur admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed. 

“Well, you didn’t believe in The Society before, but now you’re one of the people trying to bring it back to life!” Henry chuckled as he followed Arthur up the stairs to the science museum. 

Arthur couldn’t help but laugh with Henry as they entered the museum, walking up to the front desk, trying to ignore the few stares from the people around them. 

He looked at the bored front desk worker and quickly got out his wallet, giving him a smile. 

“Hello sir. I would like to purchase two admission tickets please.” 

“Museum’s free.” The desk worker smirked, getting a lot more of a kick out of this then he should be.

Arthur’s face went bright red as he put away his wallet, Henry covered his face in order to stifle any laughter. 

“Well then, I suppose there is no time to waste!” Jekyll linked elbows with Arthur and dragged him towards the exhibits like an impatient child. 

The first stop was the Energy Hall, which immediately caused Jekyll’s eyes to sparkle with delight. He leaned over the glass exhibits, staring at the miniature models of oil rigs and turbines with extreme interest. 

“You know, it's strange how prevalent electricity is today, considering many thought steam and gas were the end all! And in fact there were protests against electricity! And even claimed that adopting electricity would kill us all! The ventures of Frankenstien didn’t exactly help…” Jekyll explained to Arthur, seemingly forgetting about the others around him as he seemed completely oblivious to the stares from the others surrounding him.

“People always attempted to stifle progress even back then…” Arthur mused, thinking about that one woman he met who insisted 5G was the end of the world. 

“Indeed! I suppose people get too comfortable with the current technology and any progress seems a bit like a threat to their lifestyle!” Dr. Jekyll replied, with an air of authority in his voice. 

“Well, I suppose that's where the entire concept of mad scientists came from..” Arthur mumbled under his breath. 

“Yes. I suppose that's a valid theory.” Jekyll said in response, his brows creased slightly. 

“Well, I can show you something that was certainly considered mad science at the time!” Arthur grabbed Henry’s hand unknowingly and began leading him eagerly to the space section of the museum and away from the mumbling crowd.

When they arrived at the “Exploring Space” section of the museum, Arthur realized his mistake and quickly released the man's hand. 

“OH MY GOD!” Jekyll looked as though he was about to faint from shock. He stared at the models of satellites and rocket ships with what was almost disbelief in his eyes. “People.. PEOPLE WERE ON THE MOON?!” He grabbed Arthur, shaking him slightly as he said this.

“Yep! The United States landed on the moon in 1969!” Arthur replied, not really minding the shock induced manhandling. 

“B-but how?!” 

“With the Saturn V rocket, and what I assume is a lot of hard work.” Arthur shrugged, he hadn’t often thought about the moon landing in all honesty.

“That's.. Amazing.” Henry seemed to be almost breathless in his wonder.

“Don’t worry if you faint, I’ll catch you.” Arthur joked, though he was starting to suspect that Jekyll was possibly in real danger of fainting. 

Instead of answering, Henry grabbed Arthur again and began walking towards the next exhibit, his brain a little too boggled to formulate any proper sentence. 

The next exhibit was the “Making The Modern World”, which to Jekyll was almost as mind blowing as the space exhibit. 

Henry stared at the models of planes in wonder, so many things had happened while he was locked up! At that thought, a sense of sadness washed over him. So many things had happened while he was locked up in that hellhole, and he had missed all of it. 

Arthur noticed the sudden drop in Jekyll’s mood and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Is something wrong?” 

“So many things… Happened without me. Countless inventions and revolutions.. So many things happened around me and… I had no idea.” Tears appeared at the corners of Jekyll’s eyes. “And If I were to be put back into that place.. Things would still continue without me.” 

Arthur looked at Henry with a very intense expression on his face. “I won’t let you go back there. I won’t let it happen. I promise.”

Dr. Jekyll looked at Arthur, and saw in those blue eyes that Arthur was completely serious. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Thank you.. I really appreciate it.” 

There was a moment of silence between the two before Henry spoke again. “I think we’ve seen enough for today. How about we go to another location?” He suggested a small once again on his face. 

“Yes. I think that would be rather nice.” Arthur replied, feeling a little bit of relief at the silence being broken. 

Henry linked arms with Arthur once again and led him out of the museum, with not a word exchanged between the two men. 

Arthur and Jekyll made their way to Hyde park, which triggered a chuckle from Henry. 

“Don’t worry. I don’t think it was named in honor of Edward.” Arthur mumbled, causing Jekyll to burst out laughing. 

“Well I’m quite glad of that! I do not believe it would be wise to do anything in honor of Edward Hyde!” His voice dropped to a whisper when they passed by a couple. 

“Well I doubt something so well maintained would be accurate to Mr.Hyde.” Arthur let out a giggle. 

“He wouldn’t like it.” Henry answered honestly, smiling at the other man. 

“Well, I think I know something you might like! Some lunch!” Arthur unlinked his arm from Jekyll’s to point to the Lido Cafe. He had to resist the urge to relink arms with Jekyll as he led the other man to the restaurant. 

When the two men arrived at the Lido Cafe, quite a few of the outside seats overlooking the water were occupied, but one near a flock of ducks wasn’t.

Henry sat at the table as Arthur went inside to get some lunch. He looked at the ducks floating serenely nearby, occasionally disappearing underneath the water's surface. 

He was so distracted by the peaceful scene that when Arthur returned, he nearly jumped out of his seat. 

“Sorry!” Arthur chuckled nervously, placing the food down on the table. “I got our food.”

Henry leaned over and inspected the food, cocking an eyebrow at its unfamiliarity. “What’s this?” 

“Beyond Burgers.” Arthur answered as he sat down, smiling at Jekyll. “I remember once getting these with my brother Alexander.” 

“Ah! The wonders of having siblings!” Jekyll chuckled, picking up the burger. “I’m an only child myself.”

“I haven’t seen him in a while.” Arthur mumbled before biting into the burger, stopping himself from saying anything more.

“This has a unique taste. What is it?” Henry asked, having also taken a bite from his burger. 

“It’s a Beyond Burger. Usually hamburgers are made from meat but this is made from plants.” Arthur replied, continuing to eat. 

“Plants? Made to taste like meat? Fascinating.” Dr. Jekyll noted as he continued to eat. 

The pair continued to eat in silence before they finished, watching the ducks go by as they did so. 

“It must have been interesting growing up here.” Jekyll mused, while wiping the crumbs from the corners of his mouth. 

“Oh, I didn’t exactly grow up here.” Arthur shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable with the subject. 

“Oh? Where were you born?” Henry asked, cocking his head curiously. 

“I was born in.. New Jersey in The United States. I moved here when my parents died.” Arthur looked down at his plate meekly. 

“Ah. The doctor mentioned that. If I may ask… What happened?” Henry said, almost immediately regretting the question as soon as he said it.

“My.. father drowned. He was an associate of Professor Ahto and apparently made a stupid mistake during a dive and.. He drowned. I don’t.. Remember much about him. But I remember that he smiled a lot…”Arthur's voice wavered slightly with emotion. 

“And.. your mother?” 

“She was.. A very spirited woman. She didn’t cry much, she always seemed to be as strong as iron.. But I know she had some weaknesses. I- Once caught her crying. It was.. Right after we received the news of my fathers death.. I found her crying over a photo of my father. It was.. The last time I remember her crying. She died two years later because of a stupid accident and.. That's when the professor took me and my brothers in.” Arthur was clearly trying to hold back tears now as he attempted to continue speaking. “I-” But he was cut off. 

Henry had placed his hand on Arthurs shoulder, his expression incredibly soft. “It’s alright. You don’t need to continue.”

Arthur managed to smile at Dr. Jekyll and nodded. “What was it like growing up for you Dr. Jekyll?”

“Well, it wasn’t truly remarkable besides my scientific fascinations.. I was raised by my father and my mother in the countryside and was generally told to make my parents proud and try to not get disowned.” Henry almost laughed, thinking about how bland his childhood truly had been. “My parents died after I graduated.. And perhaps that was for the best. If they had known what I got up to in my later years.. They would surely have disowned me.”

“Well, I think what you’re doing is admirable.” Arthur said, a little awkwardly. 

“Thank you. It’ll take a while to get The Society back to what it once was.. But-” Henry began.

“We can do it together.” 

At that, Dr. Jekyll smiled. “Yes. We can do it together.”

The two men exchanged awkward but genuine smiles with each other, feeling truly comfortable in one another's presence.

This exchange continued until Arthur looked at his phone, causing him to stand up quickly.

“Oh! We’re going to be late for Madame Tussauds! Come on!” Arthur pulled Jekyll to his feet and began pulling him away from the cafe. 

“Madame Tussauds?” Henry questioned as he caught up to Arthur. 

“A wax museum! It’s a bit strange but I don’t think that’ll bother you too much!” Arthur answered as he led Jekyll.

When the two finally arrived at the wax works, they had barely managed to get in front of the rush.

“We made it just in time.” Arthur sighed in relief, walking towards the admissions desk. He opened his wallet, and winced a bit as he parted with eighty pounds to gain admission. 

Jekyll was the one who led the way this time, excited to see what a wax museum was. 

The first exhibit that he stopped at was of Queen Victoria, who stared at them both with her glass air. 

“.... It looks like the real thing.” Jekyll mumbled, leaning forward slightly. 

“That’s partly the reason I’m not too fond of this place.” Arthur admitted, looking away from Queen Victoria's eyes. 

  
  


“Who rules now?” Henry asked, turning towards Arthur. 

“She does.” Arthur gestured to a nearby figure, which was of the still living Queen Elizabeth The Second. “But she doesn’t exactly have much authority nowadays. It’s mostly parliament that makes the decisions now.”

“Even more things changed than I thought.” Henry muttered, shaking his head.

They spent a while touring around the museum, cringing a little at the realistic figures that stared down at them.

Their last stop was at the statue of Elvis Preseley, where they admired the “King’s” slicked back hair and eternal pose. 

“Hey. Do you think these are just dead people covered in wax?” A man with a camera remarked next to them.

Henry looked towards Arthur with a concerned expression on his face. “They.. aren’t right?”

“I.. I don’t know.” Arthur mumbled, suddenly feeling much more uncomfortable with the way that Elvis was looking at them. 

Arthur’s phone buzzed, startling both men. Terra had sent Arthur a text. He opened it to see two barcodes and a short message. “Terra sent us Thames dinner tickets!”

Henry smiled at the news. “How wonderful! We should make haste Mr. Grimes!” 

Jekyll linked their arms together once again but allowed Arthur to lead the way out of the museum.

The pair had to scramble to catch the Thames Cruise, just barely managing to get in behind a rather wealthy looking couple. 

Arthur was incredibly nervous, never having gone on a Thames cruise before, and especially not on a dinner one with someone else. 

Henry, someone who was more used to social events wasn’t as nervous as they boarded, but he was slightly miffed that he no longer had his top hat or cravat, as it would have probably fit the situation very well. He shot a smile towards Arthur as the hostess scanned their barcodes and began leading them towards a table. 

Arthur had a slight blush on his face as he and Henry were seated. Henry noticed this, and cocked his head curiously at this. 

“Is something wrong Arthur?” Jekyll asked, smiling at him gently. 

Arthur covered his face with his hand, trying to will his blush away. “It's nothing, I’ve just never had dinner with someone else before.”

“I can assure you that it's a very pleasant experience!” Henry replied, picking up his menu. 

Arthur also picked up his menu and scanned it before the waiter came over and took their orders. After the waiter had walked away, Arthur looked to Henry, only to see him staring at the sunset. 

“The sunset… This is the first proper one I’ve seen… Since I can remember.” Jekyll murmured.

“It's beautiful.” Arthur remarked, also looking at the sunset. 

“I’m glad I’m sharing it with someone.” Dr. Jekyll said, turning towards Arthur. 

Arthur nodded. “Things are better when they are shared.” 

“...That's one of the things that I worry about, even now.” Henry mumbled, still staring off at the sunset.

“What is it?” 

“I worry about being alone. I worry about being left alone with only Hyde for company… I know it’s a rather silly thing to worry about but..”

Without thinking, Arthur suddenly took Jekyll’s hands in his. “You don’t need to worry about that Henry. I’m not going to leave.” Arthur’s voice had intense conviction in it.

Dr. Jekyll was surprised by Arthur’s actions and looked into his eyes. Henry was quite thankful for the expressive eyes on the other man, which let him know that Arthur wasn’t just telling him something he wanted to hear. In those blue eyes, he could tell that Arthur was absolutely truthful. 

Henry tightened his hands around Arthurs and smiled back at him. “Thank you. That means quite a lot to me Arthur.” 

Their hands only parted when their food arrived, and they ate in a warm silence. 

It had indeed been quite a relaxing day. 

  
  



	7. Chapter Seven: Free Range Scientists

For the 30 plus years that Joel had been working in the London sewers, he had never once been intimidated by the damp and dark spaces that came with the job. But today, as he sloshed through the liquid waste, he felt a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach.

He tried to calm down, assuring himself that he only had a few more spots to check out before he could go home. Joel continued this mantra as he turned the next corner, only to have both his body and thoughts freeze at the sight in front of him. 

A masked man, dressed in all black was squatting underneath a rather sizable hole in the sewer ceiling. He seemed to be fiddling with what looked like a ladder, and seemed to not yet be aware of Joel's presence. 

Joel’s mind could be compared to an out of control metronome, swinging from thought to thought with no discernible rhythm. He couldn’t just simply let the man be, for it was part of his job to deal with trespassers in the sewers. But on the other hand, there was no telling whether or not the man was a loon, and how he would respond to confrontation. 

Unfortunately for Joel, it was during the moments of his deliberation that the masked man noticed him. The sewer worker found himself staring into the most intimidating set of eyes he had ever seen. 

The eyes were cold and held a predatory glare in them, making it seem more likely that he was staring down a tiger rather than another human being. The two spent a few moments in this staredown until Joel found the courage to speak. 

“This.. This is a restricted area sir. You can’t be here.” He stuttered out meekly.

The masked man only responded with a sigh, and pulled out a gun. Joel quickly stepped back with his hands held in front of him in a feeble attempt to protect himself.

“W-wait a second! There’s no need-” Joel tried to plead before he was cut off by a bullet piercing his skull. 

The masked man watched as the sewer workers body fell to the floor, making a slightly wet thud sound upon impact. With a sound of disgust, the masked man pushed the body into the water. He watched for a few moments as the body bobbed in the water before pulling out his phone and dialing a number. It rang for a few moments before he held it up to his ear. 

“I just had to deal with another problem. Give me some good news.” He growled into the phone. 

The voice on the other line was tired and matter of fact, “The staff is being distracted by the riot if that’s what you mean.” There was a pause. “You might have to do a bit of poking around to find all the targets though, some may have tried to escape when they noticed their doors unlocked.”

“Understood.” The man replied in a still less than pleasant voice.

He began ascending the stairs that he had set up, eventually sticking his head out of hole like a prairie dog before climbing up and out. 

He extracted another weapon from his bag. It was a tranquilizer gun, less lethal but still effective in stopping someone cold. 

He set out down the hall, still trying to be somewhat stealthy. It wasn’t long until he encountered two of the targets, who seemed to him like two rats desperately trying to escape a cage. 

“Hello Mr. Sinnet. Hello Mr. Tweedy. “ He mumbled under his breath as he walked closer to the two, making his presence known to them. “Are you two fellows trying to escape?” He asked, trying to make his voice as friendly as he could, which didn’t fully succeed. 

“Who the fuck are you?” One of the ‘targets’ asked in a thick Australian accent. He was a tall man with a wild black beard, a long scar over his grey right eye and eyebrows that looked like two small angry cats. His companion was a shorter green eyed man with a smattering of freckles and red curly hair. The smaller man was swaying a bit and obviously still under the effect of some sort of sedative. 

Under the mask, the man gritted his teeth at the abrasive reply, but kept calm. The boss had insisted that he use diplomacy first, and force second. 

“That’s not really important.” He said, idly rubbing his weapon as he spoke. “What is important is that it's your and your fellow scientists' lucky day. I’m here to make sure you all don’t end up back in this loony bin.” He saw the still suspicious expression on the man's face, it was time to use a little leverage. “Dr. Jekyll wants to make sure all of you are safe after all.” 

The bearded man looked briefly surprised before his eyes narrowed in suspicion, “How do I know Henry really sent you? He’s not the type to send some random into danger and not go along himself.” The Australian puts himself between the man in black and his sedated friend. “And there’s no way in hell he’d put so many people in danger like your doing with that riot upstairs.”

The masked man was barely able to keep himself from rolling his eyes. He adjusted his grip on the tranquilizer gun, making sure that he’d be able to use it at a moment's notice. 

“He only asked me to get you out. He didn’t give me any instructions on how to do it. And the reason he’s not here himself? He’s an escapee, he’d get drugged and thrown in a cell in the blink of an eye.” He explained, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. 

“But a very important fact is that you both are coming with me no matter what. But you do get a choice in whether or not you’re going to do so while conscious.” The man held up the tranquilizer gun, showing that he was serious. “Make your choice Mr. Tweedy.” 

The man with the beard, Mr. Tweedy, decided neither of these options suited him. “Get fucked you sideways cunt!” He pulled a toothbrush shank out of his sleeve and charged the mysterious man, screaming like banshee.

Moran waited until the charging man was close enough, and cracked him over the head with the tranquilizer guns barrel. He hoped that the man's wild hair would hide the bruise that the impact would most definitely leave, or else he would get quite the earful from James about “damaged goods”.

“You fucking idiot.” Moran hissed. 

“Tweedy!” The redhead yelled in a panicked Scottish accent. He tried to run to help his friend up but only collapsed beside him in a fit of dizziness. From his place on the ground he tried to bat at the masked man with one hand and weakly pulled Tweedy closer with the other.

Moran responded by stomping on the man's hand, letting out an annoyed sigh. “Listen. If one of you can get up.. Then get on your feet and gather up all your little scientist friends and bring them back here. I will keep your other friend with me. If you don’t do what I say, I’ll shoot them in the head with a real gun.” He held up his pistol, his eyes shining with sadistic glee. 

The redhead, Mr. Sinnet, whimpered from the pain and struggled into a standing position. Using the wall for support he made his way back into the asylum anxiously muttering to himself in too thick of an accent for the mystery man to understand. 

It wasn’t long until Sinnet ran into another group, this one being led by Mr. Archer who looked thrilled but confused at Sinnet’s approach. 

“Mr. Sinnet! Thank god! I didn’t think we’d ever find you! Where’s Mr. Tweedy?” He asked, an eyebrow raised. 

“He’s probably busy punching some guard or something.” A white haired man grumbled groggily, his red eyes still somewhat glazed over with whatever he had been dosed with. “Tell him to get his ass here. Pidgley and Ito have set up a meet up point.” 

Sinnet pointed desperately in the direction of the room still holding Tweedy and the mysterious man. “Please, h-help!” The cocktail of sedatives and adrenaline inside him was making it nearly impossible for Sinnet to form comprehensible words, let alone think through what he was doing.

Mr. Archer frowned, Sinnet’s face was so pale that his freckles stood out like black spots on white paper. It was worrying, because even in this type of stress, he didn’t think Sinnet would be so shaken up. 

He turned to face two men in his group and gestured towards the room that Sinnet was pointing to. “Mr. Luckett, Mr. Helsby, check out what's going on in that room.” 

Mr. Luckett nodded without a word and dragged Helsby down the hallway towards the door, ignoring the other man's protests. Archer turned back to the shaking man in front of him. “What happened? Was Mr. Tweedy captured?” He asked, looking incredibly worried. 

Sinnet nodded vigorously causing another dizzy spell, he still tried to point to where Tweedy was being kept.

“Luckett And Helsby will be able to handle any guards that come their way. Come on, let's go to the others.” Mr. Archer gabbed Mr. Sinnet’s arm, and began dragging him up the hallway with the others following in a half sedated march. 

It wasn’t very long until they caught up with everyone else, with Mr. Archer giving a friendly yet slightly frantic wave to Ito and Pidgley. 

“Hey! I hate having to be the bearer of bad news, but Tweedy’s been captured! And I think we should go to get him.” Archer proclaimed, his brow furrowed in very deep and uncharacteristic worry.

“Of course it’s Tweedy, it’s always Tweedy!” Ito exclaimed, exasperated. She was not ready to deal with this.

“It won’t be too much of a problem!” Pidgley chirped, waving around the sharp piece of contraband she held. “We just need to overpower the guards. They’re probably having enough trouble with Tweedy alone!” This was met with a shared murmur of approval from her group. 

Archer nodded in agreement. “Come on Ito. It won’t be too much trouble! It’ll probably take only a few minutes at the most! What’s the worst these guards can do? Try to overpower all of us? With no weapons?” 

“Gufuggl...” Sinnet tried to warn his colleagues that their enemy did in fact have a firearm but was waging an even more difficult battle against passing out. 

“You realise by saying ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’ you’ve effectively doomed us all?” Ito asked Archer, wholly unamused. 

“Don’t be so negative! Let’s just get this over with!” Pidgely said, looking impatient as she began walking down the hallway towards the room, her group following close behind. She might have not been the tallest of the group, but she was certainly one of the most bold. 

Archer shrugged at Ito. “I’m going. If you want to stay here and get captured yourself that’s your choice!” He said, beginning to follow Pidgley’s group. 

Ito huffed but followed, taking Sinnet’s hand as she passed in order to pull him along with the rest of the group.

If only Sinnet had been more coherent, maybe they would have been more prepared for the gun being pointed at them by Moran. 

“Ah! Good. Everyone is here.” He said, still not removing his right foot from Luckett’s back. “Now. Let’s all proceed in an orderly fashion shall we?”

Archer and Pidgley stood there in shock, not exactly having expected that a man in a mask would be waiting with a gun. 

“Why do I always have to be right?” Ito muttered under her breath. 

“Shut up. Everyone get into the hole. And someone will have to carry this bastard.” Moran snapped, gesturing to Mr. Tweedy with his left foot. “If anyone else passes out. I’m going to put a bullet in their head. Do we all have an agreement?”

Archer thought about trying to challenge the man for a second, but realized that even in their superior numbers the man could probably kill them all, so he merely nodded nervously. 

Pidgley reluctantly dropped her weapon, not really wanting to risk getting herself or anyone else shot. 

“And what about you?” Moran’s eyes turned to Ito, staring her down. “Are you going to try and be a hero?”

Ito shook her head and put an arm around Sinnet’s waist to keep him from falling over and possibly condemning Tweedy to death.

Moran nodded, and directed a still woozy Luckett to pick up Tweedy, speeding up the wake up process with the threat of a bullet. 

He watched with an eagle eye as the group of people descended into the hole, following behind them. He took only a moment to call up his contact. 

“The targets are now in my possession. You’re off the hook for now.” He mumbled into the phone. 

“Oh goody, what luck.” The voice over the line responded in total monotone.

“Shut up. You’re lucky I’m not mad at you for one of the whackjobs attacking me.” Sebastian mumbled before hanging up, and resuming his vigilant watch over his captives. “Come on. Let’s march.” 

Archer continued marching on, trying to keep up a brave face. He turned to Mr. Pennebrygg and whispered. “Where do you think he’s taking us?” He asked worriedly. 

“Maybe one of those secret government research facilities, they’d probably want us to make them a weapon or something right?” Mr. Pennebrygg answered, not exactly considering that this could just be a very convoluted mass assassination.

“We’re all going to die you idiots.” The white haired man hissed, though he seemed much more scared than he was letting on. 

“Shut up Mr. Griffin.” Moran growled, causing the man to instantly silence himself. “No one is going to die. Unless someone gives me a reason to kill them.”

Archer forced his eyes to the ground, almost shaking with fear now. First he had been drugged and locked up in a stupid cell for over eighty years and now he was being led to what was quite possibly his death. 

Moran was getting quite a bit fed up with the shaking people marching up in front of him. He nearly gave into the temptation to whack some of them, and was quite glad when the transportation that James had so generously provided, a bus to hold all of these morons.

“What.. What is that?” Helsby asked, looking amazed. 

“Our ride. Get in.” Moran growled as he opened the door, forcing the group to pile in the bus, still pointing the gun at them. Once they were all in, he got into the driver's seat, placing the guns by his feet. He thought about how he looked like a school bus driver, and he let out a barking horse-like laugh as he closed the doors, causing almost all of his passengers to jump.

It wasn’t until the ignition was turned on and the bus roared to life that Tweedy was spooked awake. “Aw, bloody hellfire, my head.” He held said head in his hands, feeling a shock of pain whenever the bus jerked or turned.

“Tweedy. Be quiet. I’m not going to let your stupidity get me killed by the lunatic piloting this… Machine.” Griffin hissed at him, eyeing Moran fearfully.

“Where’s Sean?” Tweedy managed, now rubbing his temples in a vain attempt to subdue the pounding in his ears.

“He’s with Ito. That man threatened to shoot him if he collapsed.” Mr. Archer whispered to him. “He’s fine.. Well for the situation that we are currently in.”

“Exactly. Now shut up.” Griffin added.

“Fuck you Griffin.” Tweedy hissed out. Meanwhile Sean Sinnett and Virginia Ito were actually taking the advice and remaining as quiet as possible.

Moran groaned silently, he didn’t want to deal with Tweedy much longer. But luckily, the stop was up soon. And, he had to confess that he took an incredible amount of joy from making the bus come to a screeching and sudden halt, causing several of the passengers to smash their heads into the seats. 

“We’re here ladies.” He chuckled. 

“We are a pretty bunch, aren't we?” Tweedy said, risking some sass.

“.. Get the fuck out of the bus.” Moran spat, opening up the door. 

The line out of the bus was incredibly quiet, besides a few people murmuring to one another. The place they were was unfamiliar, but Moran didn’t care. As soon as they were out, he slammed the door, sighing in relief as he drove off. 

Luckett watched as Moran drove off, almost feeling like cheering as the man who had beaten him silly was getting further and further away. But of course one thing did bother him…

“Where are we?”

“I’m not very sure..” A ruffled but now very awake Mr. Bird mumbled worriedly. “But this building looks familiar!” 

“That’s because it’s the society building!” Ito shouted in relief and joy.

“Then what are we waiting for?!” Pigdley yelled, running towards the door and practically hammering on it.

After a minute of her relentless knocking the door opened.. And revealed a completely unfamiliar blonde man with deep black circles around his eyes. 

By his side was a large intimidating black dog, she was happily wagging her tail though. So she probably wasn’t aggressive.

The man looked incredibly confused and slightly frightened at the group. 

“C-can.. Can I help you?” He asked meekly, putting a hand on the large dog's head, obviously looking nervous. 

“Uhh.. “ Pidgley didn’t know what to say, confused by the unknown man being in the building. “Well..”

“Where’s Henry!?” Tweedy demanded, he wanted to see his friend and this random twink wasn't gonna stand in his way.

The man stepped back, looking incredibly bewildered before quickly turning around. “Dr. Jekyll! There are.. Many people here to see you!” He called into the building, praying that he would arrive soon. 

Henry could be heard trotting down the stairs, and the blonde man stepped aside, revealing a very shocked Dr. Henry Jekyll. 

“OH MY GOODNESS!” He shouted, obviously in delight. “Come in! Come in!” Jekyll pulled open the doors, eagerly ushering the group in front of the confused man. 

“Dr. Jekyll!” Pidgley screeched, almost tackling him in a hug. “It’s been so long!” 

Jekyll accepted the hug happily, looking as purely joyful as a child at Christmas. “Rachel! It’s so good to see you!” He cried. He then released Rachel and turned to the others. “How did you get here?!”

“We were kidnapped from the asylum by a madman in a black mask. All the doors had unlocked causing a riot and we took the chance to try to escape, I don’t know why he brought us here. We would obviously come anyways.” Ito explained.

“He bashed me in the back of the fucking skull! I think. My memories are a little fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure it was him!” Tweedy supplied.

“That...Sounds distressing.” Jekyll mumbled, before he put a smile back on his face. “But I’m so glad all of you are safe now!” He then turned to the confused blonde man, who had been trying to sneak away. 

“Arthur! Come and meet everyone!” Henry gestured to the man, who awkwardly walked over. “Everyone! I would like you to meet Mr. Arthur! He’s my business partner!” Jekyll pushed Arthur forward, as though he was showing off a cherished possession. 

“You make a beautiful couple, but does the plumbing still work?” Tweedy asked scratching at his wild beard and trying to ignore how his hair was matted with blood.

“Of course Mr. Tweedy! In fact! Due to the renovations the plumbing has been upgraded! Meaning that it's even better than be- HEY!” Jekyll’s face turned as red as a tomato when Tweedy’s full comment sunk in. 

“Dr. Jekyll? With someone?! I can hardly believe it!” Helsby teased, before turning to Arthur. “What’s it like being Jekyll’s new fling?” 

Arthur hid his face behind the document he was holding, praying to god that he had managed to conceal his blush. 

Tweedy ambled up the stairs to the bathroom, leaving the chaos he had created to fester. As he often did.

Shera prodded Arthur in the hip with her nose, trying to comfort her friend about whatever was distressing him. 

“We are merely business partners!” Jekyll declared shakily as he tried to regain his composure. “How about everyone introduce themselves?” He asked.

“I’ll go first!” Rachel chirped, smoothing out her clothes. “I’m Rachael Pidgley! I’m the Society’s cook! And I intend to take back that position!” She was a small young woman, with a darker complexion and dark green eyes. 

A boy around Rachael’s age stepped up next and held his hand out to Arthur. He was a brunette, with golden eyes and a sheepish look on his face.“Hello Mr. Arthur. I’m Jasper Kaylock! I’m a cryptobiologist.. And a half werewolf.” He mumbled the last part sheepishly as he finished shaking Arthur's hand and quickly resumed his place besides Rachel. 

“Raphael Archer. Botanical Clockwork Engineer. Nice to meet you Mr. Arthur.” Mr. Archer gave Arthur a large smile. He was a young looking brunette, with shining eyes and a charming smile. 

“Ranjit Helsby! I’m an exploratory bathynaut!” Helsby was a darker skinned man, wearing spectacles and a mischievous smile. “Nice to meet Jekyll’s lover! How-”

“I’m Oliver Bird! I’m a crypto-horoculturalist.” Mr. Bird cut him off, hoping to save the two men from more embarrassment. He was a larger man with thick blonde hair, including his mustache and his beard. 

“Dr. Jarrah Maijabi.” An older man with a thick accent introduced himself, giving Arthur a smile. “I’m an Ectoplasmic Pathologist.” He had long neatly groomed white hair.

“Connor Luckett!” Mr. Luckett shook Arthur’s hand excitedly. “Detonative Homeopath! I’m glad to be back!” He had red-brown hair and a small goatee. 

“Hallo! I’m Benjamin Mosley! I’m a Hollow Earth Submariner!” A black haired man cheerily introduced himself. 

“Charles Doddle!” Mr. Doddle gave Arthur a friendly smile. “Experimental Confectionist. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” He had light brown hair as well as a neatly groomed mustache and beard. 

Griffin looked a little reluctant but spoke. “Jack Griffin. I’m a dissappearative biochemist.” He mumbled. He was an albino man with a grumpy expression on his face as he avoided Arthurs eyes.

“My name is Virginia Ito, I’m a Neoalchemist.” She shakes Arthur’s hand firmly. “The tactless man who just ran up the stairs is Jacob Tweedy, Galvanic engineer.” She gestures the still sedated redhead leaning against her for support. “This is Sean Sinnet, Philoigistonic Pyrologist. He’s normally much more energetic I assure you.”

A tall man with bright eyes came up to Arthur and instead of shaking his hand he wrapped him in a bear hug. “I’m Nicholas!” He let go quickly luckily for Arthur’s spine. “I’m an aeronaut and adventurer extraordinaire.”

A smaller but still bright eyed and enthusiastic man shook Arthur’s hand thoroughly. “I’m Jay Pennebrygg! I’m an automatonamist and I’m looking forward to working with you!”

“I’m Pearl! Pearl Lavender, I’m a junior extremofaunic zoologist and Miss Cantilupe’s assistant! I’m happy to help with anything at all.” A girl shook his hand and gentured toward the old woman that appeared to be studying Shera with gentle but intent interest. Pearl looked pretty young, definitely younger than the others.

“Just call me Marigold dear.” The old woman said, looking up briefly from her new friend. Shera certainly seemed to be enjoying the attention.

Finally a young woman with green eyes waved shyly at Arthur. “I’m Miss Flowers, I study insects.” That seemed to be all she had to say on the subject.

Arthur, feeling much more at ease smiled back at all of them, and attempted to fix up his appearance slightly. 

“I’m Arthur Grimes. I don’t exactly have much of a prestigious career myself but I have some expertise in deep sea creatures. My main function here is being the assistant to Dr. Jekyll.”

“Indeed!” Jekyll chirped, placing a hand on Arthurs shoulder. “He’s been a blessing in helping to bring the Society back to life!” 

Arthur blushed slightly at the praise, still not quite used to it. “I.. I look forward to working with you all.” 

“And I simply can’t wait as well!” Jekyll gave Arthur a quick hug before he turned back to the Lodgers. “Now! I think it’s been quite a day for us all! I believe we should all get some rest!” He announced cheerily gesturing upstairs. 

The Lodgers soon filed upstairs, talking to each other excitedly as they did so. Some gave friendly goodbye waves to Arthur before disappearing into their rooms. 

Jekyll turned towards Arthur again and his shoulders relaxed. “That.. That was quite a surprise wasn’t it?”

“Yes it was.” Arthur admitted a little sheepishly. 

“But.. I’m glad it happened. It puts my mind at ease.” Jekyll sighed, a tone of contentment in his voice. 

“I’m very glad.” Arthur smiled at Jekyll, and Jekyll smiled back. 

“Unfortunately, we have some more work to do..” Henry mumbled guiltily.

“Nothing worth doing is ever easy.” Arthur remarked, causing Henry to chuckle. 

“Well I suppose we should start working on it now, so we can have a chance to be done before midnight!” Jekyll once again placed a hand on Arthur’s shoulder before walking away with Arthur soon following. 


	8. Chapter Eight: Breakfast Brawling

The night had been eventful to say the least. As Arthur and Jekyll had worked feverishly at the seemingly endless mountain of documents in front of them, they were accompanied by the ambience of “stop snoring so loud!” and “If you don’t stop talking about plants I’m going to smother you with a pillow.” As well as the occasional loud howl, which Arthur had assumed was coming from Jasper, who had thankfully relayed his lycanthropic status earlier to him.

Even with a bit more noise than he was used too, Arthur still managed to pass out at his desk, which he found out when he awoke the next morning. 

He awoke to the sounds of a person at the door of the office, who by what it sounded like was trying to break down the door with their fists while trying to talk. The pounding was clear enough to him, but the words weren’t as clear to his sleep fogged mind. As he stood up to open the door and ask the rather vocal visitor what they wanted, the door finally gave way.

The room was flooded with light from the lobby, which caused Dr. Jekyll, who had somehow slept through all the madness to groan and cover his face with his hand, like a vampire who cursed the morning light.

In the doorway stood Rachel, who had a rather impatient expression on her face. 

“Wake up! It’s breakfast time!” She huffed, tapping her foot impatiently at the two groggy men.

“Breakfast? But Rachel, it's nearly tea time....” Henry mumbled, his face still pressed into his desk.

“No! It’s past 8:30! It’s time for breakfast! I spent hours preparing it!” Rachel stamped her foot again, looking quite infuriated. 

“Hours?” Arthur questioned, barely being able to suppress a yawn. 

“It’s a special celebratory breakfast! I had to wake up everyone so we could all have it! And I’m not going to let you two sleep through it!” The smaller girl yanked the chair from underneath Jekyll in obvious frustration, causing the man to fall directly on his behind with a yelp.

“Rachel! You shoul-” Jekyll began, obviously ready to give the cook a scolding. 

“COME ON!” She groaned, grabbing onto Arthur’s arm and pulling him out the room, giving the poor doctor no choice but to follow.

“So graceful!” Hyde mocked as Jekyll dragged himself across the lobby.

Rachel led the two men to the “Events Room”, which had purely been a creation of Mr. Doyle, who had insisted that the Society be prepared to host its own events, despite Jekyll's many protests. The tables and chairs of the room had been pushed together in a way that reminded Arthur slightly of the last supper, though he doubted that Jesus and his disciples' meals smelled half as delicious as the room did. 

All of the Lodgers were there, some looking to be in better spirits than others. Dr. Jekyll and Arthur were promptly sat down at the only two remaining chairs, which had separated a moody looking Mr. Griffin and a cheerful Mr. Doddle. And across from two men who Arthur recognized as being Mr. Sinnet and Mr. Tweedy, though Mr. Tweedy no longer had blood in his hair.

“How do you do.” He greeted politely, which earned the blonde a glare from Griffin.

“Just fantastic. I was dragged out of bed to be squashed next to a bunch of idiots.” Mr. Griffin replied. “All in honor of coming back to this place.” He sighed dramatically. 

“I’ll drag you right back to the sewer if you keep whining like a kicked bitch!” Mr. Tweedy barked between bites of egg. “There’s hot breakfast, running water, and everything else you been missing so shut your trap or thank your lucky fucking stars.” Meanwhile Sinnet watches the interaction like it’s part of a light hearted sitcom.

Arthur almost began to instinctively ask the question “Is he always like this?”, but he managed to suppress it, knowing from experience with Ahto, that it wasn’t good to further poke a grumpy person.

“For the love of god I don’t even remember the asylum!” Griffin slammed his hand against the table, causing a nearby thing of maple syrup to spill onto Arthurs lap, with not a peep from the affected man. “I was so drugged up those years might as well have been a giant nap!”

Dr. Jekyll shot an uncharacteristically sour glare at Mr. Griffin, causing the white haired man to shrink back a bit.

“I do believe you owe Mr. Arthur an apology.” Henry’s voice was icy.

“For what?” Griffin still seemed unnerved, but seemed to still have the courage supplied by his crabby attitude. 

“For spilling syrup on his lap.” Dr. Jekyll replied, giving Griffin a “Do it now” look. 

“...Sorry.” Griffin mumbled, not even looking at Arthur as he was struggling to get the syrup off of his pants. 

Dr. Jekyll didn’t seem very satisfied, but he was quickly distracted by Mr. Bird, who began to discuss the “horseless carriage” that he had spotted parked near the Society. 

Mr. Tweedy handed Arthur his napkins. “Sorry about Grif, I’ve taken shits with more charm than him but he’s part of the setup ya know?” 

Arthur smiled at that, and nodded. “I understand. I’ve had some experience with non-morning people.” He said, managing to wipe away a sufficient amount of syrup at last. “ He looked up at Tweedy. “Thank you for the napkins. You must be Mr. Tweedy right? I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Arthur Grimes, I’ve been working with Dr. Jekyll to help with the Society.” His voice was professional sounding, but one could tell from the sparkle in his eyes and the smile on his face that he was genuinely pleased. 

Dr. Jekyll gave Arthur a proud seeming pat on his shoulder before turning back to Mr. Bird, who was truly fascinated by the concept of the “car” that Jekyll was so enthusiastically describing to him. 

“Call me Jacob mate! I ain’t the formal type.” Jacob reaches across the table and gives Arthur’s still sticky hand a firm shake. “So what made you wanna join our rag tag group anywho?” 

“Oh, I well-” Arthur began before a voice suddenly called across the table.

“It’s obviously because Jekyll seduced him!” Mr. Helsby cut Arthur off, looking truly amused with himself. “And he-” Helsby was interrupted by his foot being kicked by Mr. Luckett under the table. 

Arthur tried to continue despite his bright red face. “I was introduced to the Society by Professor Ahto.. and I formally met Dr. Jekyll thanks to my friend Dr. Dagenhart. I honestly just think this Society has quite a lot to contribute to the world!” Arthur didn’t want to mention him having to break Jekyll out, or his brother's involvement, it just wasn’t the right time. 

Jasper looked up, with a mouth full of sausages and attempted to speak. “Who’s Dr. Dagenhart?” He asked, barely coherent through his mouthful of meat. 

“Oh! She’s a lovely woman who works as a therapist! She’s very sweet and calm-”

This was taken as the door’s cue to burst open allowing a fuming Dr. Dagenhart to enter, bringing a miasma of fear and trepidation into the room with her. When she stood in front of Henry and Arthur she spoke like an executioner asking the man on the block if he had any last words. “Where is your brother?” 

“I d-don’t know..” Arthur whimpered in response, shrinking back, as though he was trying to become one with the chair that he was sitting in. “He… doesn’t tell me many things..”

The whole room was focused on Terra, some looking curious while others had a look of worry on their faces. 

“What’s going on Doctor?” Jekyll asked, beginning to rise from his seat. 

Dr. Dagenhart answers in a voice tinged with mourning. “Two people are dead because of the security breach and riot from last night, one guard and one sewer worker found outside a hole carved through the floor of the asylum. Not only that but several of my patients in the children’s wing have been set back months in their recovery by this traumatic experience. And while I know full well you would never enact a plan that would put anyone in danger even to rescue these, I assume innocent people.” She gestures briefly to the other scientists. “James is an entirely different story and the only other person with a motive.”

“You truly think I would do such a terrible thing?” A voice called from behind her, causing all eyes to be directed towards the entryway. James was standing there with a rather smug look on his face. Another man was standing besides him, stone faced and silent. “I’m shocked that you think so low of me!”

“Jamie, I assure you that whatever you believe I think of you, it’s far less than even that.” Terra says, not looking at all surprised by the bastard’s arrival but certainly annoyed.

James sucked in a breath angrily through his teeth, but kept on his fake smile. “I prefer either Professor or Mr. Doyle. And I assure you that I have nothing to do with what you’re accusing me of!” He plucked a flower from a nearby vase, twirling it between his fingers.

“I frankly couldn’t care less what you prefer, you pretentious little parasite.” Terra tells him honestly. “You have crossed a line and you will face consequences.” 

The man next to James stepped towards Terra, only for James to hold his hand out, stopping him in his tracks. “No need Sebastian.” James said before placing the flower back in its vase. “I would watch how you speak to me Dr. Dagenhart, after all, I do fund this entire institution.” He said, a layer of venom covering his words. 

“James-” Arthur began, rising from his chair, desperate to try and calm the situation.

“Sit down.” James snapped, causing Arthur to immediately sink back into his chair meekly. 

“You can say whatever you feel you need to Arthur.” Terra turned briefly to comfort the now slightly shaking man. “You on the other hand are annoying me with your empty threats.” She redirected her attention back to James. “For although you could theoretically cease funding this establishment, it would mean you wouldn’t get what you’re so obviously trying to achieve with it and that all the effort you've gone through to get it running would be wasted. You won’t pull funding, you need the people here, the people with real talent and great minds that you lack and yet think you're. entitled to.”

James froze, an angry look in his grey eyes. And the man besides him stepped forward, standing in front of Terra.   
“I can assure you that his threats aren’t empty Dr. Dagenhart. I’ll make sure of it.” He stated, his voice monotone, yet still threatening. “So watch your words.”

Terra looked slightly down at the man threatening her, he was only two inches shorter than her which still put him at an impressive 6’8. “Really, he can’t even fight his own verbal battles? He has to send you to intimidate everyone he isn’t cleverer than into backing down?” She asked with a raised eyebrow, looking wholly unimpressed and unintimidated by the whole display.

“Professor Doyle isn’t interested in picking a fight with someone like you. He came here for a different reason.” The man stated, scowling at Terra. 

“That’s enough Mr. Moran.” James stated, walking past Terra and towards the tables. “I’m so sorry about all of that. I can assure you that these are false accusations. And I’ve come here to give some good news!”

“And that is?” Dr. Jekyll stated, looking quite irritated at James, and he was highly considering taking heed of Hyde's advice to slam the bastards head into the oatmeal. 

“I’ve gotten The Society in the headlines!” James announced proudly, retrieving a newspaper from under his arm and unfurling it, proudly presenting it. 

For a few seconds the only sound in the room was of Cornelius eating bacon off a distracted Griffin’s plate. Then Terra put her head in her hands, “You are truly, a thorn in the side of all good people.”

“What?!” Arthur cried out, standing up in shock. “B-but we aren’t ready! We’ve just finished renovations-”

“It’s never too early to get good publicity Artie.” James’s tone was scolding as he rolled up the newspaper. 

“This is insane! Even at our peak we didn’t go searching for headlines!” Jekyll slammed his hand against the table in anger, causing several Lodgers to flinch away, even Griffin froze in his battle of trying to take back his bacon from Cornelius. 

“Let Professor Doyle speak.” Moran barked, obviously annoyed at all in the room. 

Suddenly, Sinnet spoke for the first time since Arthur and Henry came to breakfast. “You sound familiar...” He said, pointing at Moran. There was a deafening silence as everyone remembered exactly where they had heard that voice.

“IT’S HIM!” Griffin screeched, holding Cornelius close to his chest. 

“I knew there was something wrong about him!” Rachel grabbed a knife and pointed it at Moran threateningly. 

“You crazy bastard!” Mr.Archer looked like he was about to jump over the table, holding a fork in his hand.   
Mr. Bird was backing away, looking quite frightened of the situation. While Mr. Mosley and Helsby were holding each other in fright.  
Mr. Luckett had also jumped up, holding a butter knife as his weapon of choice. 

Moran looked at all of them with complete indifference, his face completely blank. “I have never met any of you. You’re all insane.” 

“That’s the fucker who kidnapped us!” Tweedy roared, breaking the bottom off a glass bottle of milk off on the table, giving himself a classic bar brawl weapon.

“I knew you were behind it, and I knew you were stupid. But bringing the man you hired to kidnap the members of the society to the society, is a stunning level of arrogance.” Terra said, shaking her head. She turned back to Henry and Arthur, “Can I throw them out now? I think they’re upsetting your friends.”

Before Henry could speak, Arthur slammed the syrup mug on the table, shattering it to pieces.   
“STOP!” He screamed, shoving his chair violently to the side. 

Everyone, including James froze, never having heard Arthur's voice raised before. 

“THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CELEBRATORY BREAKFAST! SOMETHING THAT I COULD FINALLY ENJOY FROM ALL OF THE FUCKING HOURS I’VE SPENT WORKING! BUT NO! I DON’T GET THAT! I GET SCREAMING AND A FUCKING BRAWL! JUST HAD TO COME HERE WITH ALL THAT BULLSHIT AND RUIN EVERYTHING!” Arthurs screams were punctuated with his fists pounding into the pile of broken shards, not even seeming to notice the blood that was now freely flowing from his hands. “I CAN’T EVEN GET A FUCKING HOUR OF PEACE CAN I?!” Angry tears were now also flowing from his eyes, now mixing with the blood. 

Terra completely drops her air of intimidation and immediately pulls Arthur into a soft hug. “I’m so sorry Arthur, your right. You do deserve a break, and I’m so proud of you for standing up for yourself. You shouldn't have to get to this point for people to listen to you. You work so hard for everyone here and we appreciate you so much and want to see you happy.” 

Arthur was silent and still for a moment as he tried to handle all of the emotion swirling inside of him now. “Let me go.” He whispered as he tried to push Terra away, smearing blood on her clothing. “Just let me go.” He was crying again, though now they weren’t tears of anger.

Terra carefully let go, not wanting to scare him with any sudden movements. “I’m sorry Arthur, what do you need? I just want to help you.” Terra asked softly, not paying any attention to the blood on her clothes. 

“I..I Just want to be alone. I just… I just can’t.” Arthur began walking towards the door, his voice incredibly somber, causing all of the conflict in the room to turn into a suffocating sorrow. 

Dr. Jekyll had remained silent, seemingly afraid of escalating the conflict, But now, Dr. Jekyll threw himself across the table at James, slamming the man into the wall, much to the shock of everyone in the room. 

“What are you doing?!” James screeched before Jekyll smashed his fist into James face, only snarling angrily in response. 

James gripped his cane, and began using it to try and beat the man who was on top of him. Jekyll didn’t seem to care about the cane beating he was getting, it only seemed to fuel the man’s anger further. 

Meanwhile Tweedy had used the distraction to tackle Sebastion’s legs and stab him in the left knee with his broken bottle. “Vengeance! Get fucked you shady cunt!”

Arthur hadn’t even left the room yet, and the cycle seemed to be repeating again. The anger boiled up again, even more intense than before. Arthur picked up the nearest vase and slammed it into the wall, then proceeded to do the same with the table that had been holding it. 

“FUCK ALL OF YOU! I CAN’T EVEN LEAVE THE FUCKING ROOM BEFORE YOU ALL TRY TO KILL EACHOTHER! WHAT’S THE FUCKING POINT OF EVEN DOING ALL THIS SHIT IF ALL OF THESE THINGS GO WRONG?!” There was a lot more blood on Arthur now, ceramic shards and table scraps acting like shrapnel. And he wasn’t helping it, throwing himself into the mess over and over again, screaming until nothing came out from his mouth but noise. 

Dr. Jekyll immediately ceased his attack, as though he had just woken up from a nightmare. He jumped off of James and ran towards Arthur, he wrapped his arms around Arthur, trying to prevent the man from further hurting himself. 

“Arthur. God I’m so sorry. Arthur please..” He was whispering, trying desperately to calm down the man. “Please stop Arthur.” 

Moran kicked Tweedy away and quickly ran to help his employer despite the nasty cuts on his leg.

James sat up slowly, relying on Moran's support to stand fully. He turned towards Terra, spitting out blood on the floor as he attempted to speak. “Now look what you’ve done. I was coming in here with good news… And you had to ruin it. Look at what you’ve done to him.” He pointed towards Arthur. “And you work with children. Shameful.” 

He didn’t get to say anything else before he was suddenly slung over one of Terra’s shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Moran was shocked to find himself in an identical position on the women’s other shoulder. “You have no one to blame for this but yourself Jamie.” Terra said as she quickly made her way to the front door, seemingly unaffected by the struggling and strikes of her captives. They didn’t have long before they were literally tossed out the door and onto the street. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.” Terra said with a deep feeling of malicious foreshadowing before slamming the doors and locking them.

“Shera!” Terra called, the dog emerged from under a desk where she had been napping. Terra pointed at the door. “Guard from evil.” The dog huffed in acknowledgement and sat in front of the doors while her owner ran back to the event room.

Moran got up to challenge Shera, only to be stopped by his bloodied employer. 

“No. I think we need to admit defeat on this one. But I do think that we can learn a lesson from this.” James said as he struggled to his feet. “And don’t worry about the lawyer. We’ll send our own. Let’s go.”

Moran nodded and followed his employer away from the Society.

Back in the event room, things had calmed down somewhat. Arthur was no longer screaming, and his face was now buried in Jekyll’s shirt, wetting it with his tears as Henry whispered comforting words to him.

“....I think.. We might have acted a bit rashly.” Mr. Archer said, turning towards the others in the room. 

“Don’t we always?” Tweedy pointed out from his place on the floor. Sinnet had moved his friend’s head onto his lap, not wanting to make him stand after getting two bad blows to the head in two days.

“We gon’ to far this time Jacob.” The redhead told Tweedy gently.

“...I feel like when breakfast goes into a brawl and ends with a man having a mental breakdown, that's a sign you’ve gone too far.” Griffin muttered, looking slightly shameful at the events that had unfolded. 

“We’ve barely known him for a day and we made him cry! And he was so nice to us!” Jasper cried out, looking both ashamed and angry. 

Terra came back in at that moment, looking completely devoid of anger but instead looked absolutely sorrowful. “Arthur, Arthur I’m sorry this happened.” She crouches slightly to be eye level with her friend. “I know you’re upset and I’m so sorry if I contributed to that, but we need to get the glass out of your hands. May I help with your hands please?” 

Arthur raised his head from Jekyll’s shirt, looking completely exhausted. He nodded and held out his hands which looked almost like he dipped his hands in paint.   
“I’m sorry.” He whimpered, trying desperately to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes again. 

“You never have to be sorry for how you feel Arthur.” Terra told him, gently wiping off most of the blood with a napkin from the table. There were only a couple shards actually stuck in Arthur’s hands, the glassware had remained in larger pieces causing them to fall out on their own or not stick in the first place. It was the cuts they’d made that concerned Terra. “Would you please get me a first aid kit?” She asked Jasper. “I only have tweezers and bandaids on me.” 

“Of course!” The cryptobiologist quickly ran off to fetch the first aid kit, hoping that Arthur wouldn’t bleed out in the few minutes it took him to find and run back with it. “I found it! Is he going to be ok?” He asked worriedly, reflecting the question on everyone’s minds. 

Arthur certainly wasn’t helping with the worry, as he was relying on Jekyll for physical support, as his emotions seemed to have drained much of his energy. 

“I apologize but don’t have his permission to disclose his medical information with you.” Terra replied, only half joking. She turned to Arthur. “I’m going to disinfect your wounds, it’s going to hurt, do you understand.” She asked kindly, waiting for permission.

“Yes. I understand..” Arthur mumbled in response, slightly comforted by how gentle she was being. And of course, being cradled by Jekyll was pretty nice as well. 

Terra was quick and did impeccable work sanitizing and bandaging Arthur’s hands, speaking softly to him the whole time about what she was doing and asking if he felt pain where she was touching. She finished and managed a smile. “Is there anything that would make you feel better? You’ll want to eat something after losing all that blood but is there anything else I could get for you?”

“I.. I just want to go to sleep. I know it’s early in the morning but.. I’m tired. And I think that you need to check on Mr. Tweedy… He’s very hurt.” Arthur replied, instinctively leaning back into Jekyll's chest. Which caused Henry’s heartbeat to quicken slightly despite his calm facade. 

Terra nodded and addressed Henry. “Can you take him up to his room? I’ll be over in a bit to check on him after I see to Jacob.”

Dr. Jekyll flushed a little bit but nodded, proceeding to pick up the man bridal style, and carrying him off, trying to hide his embarrassment all the while. 

“And the lovers walk off to their honeymoon…” Helsby managed to joke, obviously trying to lessen the tension in the room.

Terra shot him a look that said ‘Not the time, or the place’ before starting her examination on Tweedy.

Dr. Henry Jekyll had taken him to the first place that had popped in his mind, which had been Jekyll’s bedroom, which he realized might have been a bad decision as soon as he placed Arthur on the bed. 

“Oh.. What an Angel..” Hyde crooned causing Jekyll to turn a deep shade of red. “There aren't many places I could have taken him to where he would be comfortable…” Henry refuted, trying to ignore Hyde’s teasing. 

“What about his room?” Hyde snickered. “If you want to be with Prince Charming just admit it!” 

Dr. Jekyll ignored Hyde’s comments and continued to adjust the bed for Arthur’s comfort, eventually reaching the stage where he was about to tuck Arthur in, when Arthur spoke.

“Henry..?” Arthur asked, his voice sounding far away.

“Yes?” Henry replied softly, trying not to startle him. 

“I’m really sorry… For what happened..”

“It’s fine. You had every right to be angry. It was… Quite the fiasco.” Jekyll admitted as he adjusted the pillows under Arthur’s head. 

“I’m sorry… About what I said.. I really like being here..” Arthur mumbled a little more groggily than before. 

“Arthur it’s fine-“

“I’m really glad that I met you Henry. I just.. Feel really happy here.” Arthur smiled slightly as he fell further into dreamland. 

“I.. I’m glad that I met you as well. I’m quite happy here as well.” Henry couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he answered. “Now get some rest alright?”

“Ok.. You just make me really happy Henry.” Arthur looked fully content as he slipped off to sleep. 

It was a few minutes until Jekyll felt comfortable enough to reply. “You make me very happy too Arthur.”


	9. Chapter Nine: Devils Advocate

Dr. Henry Jekyll woke up slowly, a feeling of contentment accompanying his entrance into the waking world. He had a smile on his face until he stretched, and felt his arm touch someone else’s.

He quickly sat up, only for his face to turn a bright red as he realized who was slowly waking up besides him. Arthur groggily opened his eyes and looked towards Henry, with a quizzical expression on his face. 

“Henry? Why are you in my bed?” The blonde asked, slowly sitting up as he rubbed his eyes and his temples, trying to get rid of a painful headache that had developed as soon as the light had hit his eyes. 

This caused Jekyll to blush even harder than before and he mumbled out a response about what had happened during the previous day, all the while trying to find a way to redirect the conversation. 

Arthur merely nodded, his attention having been drawn to the food on the bedside table. Dr. Jekyll was glad as he saw the cookies were taking priority over the awkward situation. Henry quickly got himself dressed, trying to focus on the conversations he could overhear from the lobby. 

As the two men exited the room, Jekyll still had a prominent blush on his face and Arthur’s hands occupied by cookies and juice. The men walked to the lobby, and right into a conversation between Terra and Rachel. 

“I can’t thank you enough Dr. Dagenhart. I’m going to admit that I don’t regret pulling a knife on that madman at all… I kinda regret the situation that I put Mr. Arthur in..” Rachel stated, fixing up her apron as she spoke.

“It’s my job as a doctor to provide care and support to those around me, I’d be pretty bad at my job if I didn’t help the people that need me when I see them.” Terra tells her. “And I’m absolutely mortified as well that I contributed to Arthur’s grief.” Terra says, obviously distraught by the situation herself.

“Yeah. I don’t think that it was any of our finest moments… How do you think we should get around to apologizing?” Rachel looked slightly nervous as she asked the question. “Mr. Tweedy and Mr. Sinnet seemed quite upset about the whole thing. Especially when they couldn’t find Henry or Mr. Arthur..”

“I’m quite sorry about that. I should have returned as soon as possible.” Dr. Jekyll finally spoke up, the blush having finally left his face. “It’s my duty to help the Society and I.. Well I frankly failed it.”

Terra whipped around and ignored Henry in favor of mother henning Arthur. “Arthur, I’m so sorry about yesterday I just wanted to protect you and my patients. And then I made it worse by incorrectly interpreting your emotional needs, I’m so sorry I hugged you without asking, I really just wanted you to feel better.” Terra apologizes sincerely, keeping herself a little more than an arm's length away.

Arthur swallowed his last bit of cookie before speaking. “It.. It’s fine Terra. I should have been more prepared for a situation like that. It was incredibly unprofessional of me to freak out like that.” Arthur looked to his feet in shame. “I know that you were just trying to help. It was really my fault for acting so.. insane.” 

“Arthur, you aren’t insane, you had a nervous breakdown. Which happens to every individual in times of extreme stress regardless of mental stability. You’ve been overworked, ignoring your needs, and emotionally exhausted. You need to take a break and take care of yourself.” Terra told him gently. “It’s also my professional opinion that you should seek therapy, your emotional state has been degrading and you need support.”

“I suppose that’s probably a good option.. But I don’t know if I have time or the funds for it. Besides I can’t just let Hen- Dr. Jekyll deal with all of it by himself!” Arthur protested, looking slightly nervous. 

Dr. Jekyll didn’t know what to say, he was tempted to simply tell Arthur that he could manage it, but as he opened his mouth to say so, he could hear Hyde chuckling in the back of his mind. 

_ “You think you can really handle it Henry?”  _ Hyde asked him.

“I think… That might be a good idea Arthur.. And I might..” Jekyll stumbled over his words, trying to figure out what to say. 

“Henry has the rest of the society now, and I know plenty of affordable therapists that run practices nearby.” Terra supplied. “I could even sit down with you a couple times a week if you want to talk to someone you're already comfortable with.”

“...Can I think about it?” Arthur asked sheepishly. “I just need to think a little bit now. And apologize to everyone for swearing at them.”

“Mr. Tweedy swears more than you do if a leaf falls on his head.” Rachel chirped. “It’s not something that we are upset about.”

“Well, I just feel like I should give them an apology.. And I’m probably going to have to speak with James about everything-“ Arthur’s sentence trailed off into little more than rambling about the things he needed to do.

“James can wait to hear from you.” Henry stated, his tone sounding a little bitter. “I’m sure that he’ll be fine.”

“It’s your choice Arthur, therapy and seeing your brother. We’ll support you.” Terra said seriously, then there was a knocking at the front door.

“I’ll get it!” Henry rushed towards the door, and pulled it open. He was honestly expecting James to be standing there, but instead, he was standing in front of a complete stranger. 

“Hello sir.” Dr. Jekyll said, putting on his most professional air. “Welcome to The Society of Arcane Science. I’m Dr. Jekyll, how may I help you?”

The man smiled, showing immaculate white teeth and held out a hand for Henry to shake. “I’m actually here to help you, my name is Anthony Hart, I’m your new lawyer. I’m sure my mother must have mentioned I was coming.” Anthony put Henry in mind of some of the lead actors he’d seen perform at the Shakespear company. He was classically handsome with his sharp features, electric blue eyes and slicked back auburn hair, but it was more his strong presence expressiveness. He drew the eye like a peacock among cockerels. 

Henry shook his hand with a large smile on his face. “I’m afraid she didn’t… But I assume your mother is Dr. Dagenhart?” He dropped Anthony’s hand and stepped outside to let him in. “Please come in.”

Anthony confidently strode in like he was arriving at a party fashionably late. “Correct doctor, though before you comment on how she seems too young to be my dear old mum, let me bestow upon you the knowledge that I’m adopted.” Anthony said with the suggestion that was a comment he often heard. “You have such a lovely building here, I’m going to enjoy my time poking around.”

_ “He has no idea that we are far older than him does he?”  _ Hyde muttered, seemingly not impressed. 

“Thank you! Mr.Grimes and I worked very hard on restoring it. Dr. Dagenhart is in the lobby with Mr. Grimes.” Henry explained, keeping pace with Anthony as he spoke. “I’m quite glad that Dr. Dagenhart is helping us with legal representation, some at the Society can tend to be a little rowdy…” Dr. Jekyll gave a little chuckle at the last sentence. 

Arthur looked up to see Anthony and put on a smile. “Hello! Welcome to the Society of Arcane Science! I’m Mr. Grimes! It’s nice to meet you!” 

Anthony didn’t attempt to answer knowing his mother would envelope him in a gigantic bear hug before he could respond. She did. “Ducky! I’m so glad you’re here, I missed you so much! I’m sorry you had to fly all this way sweetie.” Terra cooed at her son, who took the coddling in stride for a man appearing to be in his thirties.

“I’m absolutely jazzed to see you too mom, I might lose some intimidation if you call me Ducky though.” Anthony said hugging her back and sounding amused at his mother’s slight babying. “And don’t worry about the flight, you know I love a good adventure.”

Terra put him down gently and kissed his cheek. “Ok I’ll leave the nicknames out of it, I’m just excited to have you around for a while.” Terra said adoringly, beaming at having her son with her.

Henry walked over to Arthur and placed his hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “This is Anthony Hart. He’s a lawyer, I guess he’s our lawyer now.” He whispered into Arthur’s ear.

“Ah! Nice to meet you Mr. Hart!” Arthur smiled at Anthony. “It’ll be nice to have the advice of a legal expert like you!” 

“A lawyer? Did that maniac actually sue us?” Rachel asked, looking slightly frustrated.”Maybe I should have just stabbed him.” 

“Oh no, he hasn’t taken legal action against you, and I’d rather not tie you up in some long private court battle.” Anthony began, ignoring the stabbing bit. “I’d prefer to just dig up some federal crimes he’s committed and let the government do all the boring paperwork. In the meantime I’m here to make sure you don't get in trouble with all these new modern laws running around.” Apparently he did know the lodgers were older than him.

Arthur pursed his lips slightly but didn’t say anything. It was not a good time to talk about James at the moment.

“That’s very good! It’s unfortunately not as easy to establish good relations with the police anymore.” Henry chuckled. “Also legal advice is useful in slander situations!”

“It’s not slander if it’s true!” A voice yelled from the doorway, which was accompanied by the sound of wheels on the wood floor. 

“Good morning Ahto, I see you’re doing well.” Terra greeted the irate man casually, figuring this may as well happen. Meanwhile Anthony observed the newcomer with interest, like he was a fun new plot twist in a show he liked.

Ahto ignored Terra, opting to instead wheel his way in front of Arthur. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“...Working?” Arthur answered nervously.

“WITH THESE FRAUDS?!” Ahto made a sweeping gesture, concincedentally pointing at some of the Lodgers who had come out of their workspaces to investigate.

“Professor, please-“ Arthur began, hoping that he could convince the man to calm down. 

“I RAISED YOU TO BE SMARTER THAN THIS!” Ahto slammed his arm on the side of his wheelchair. “And yet here you are! Acting stupid!” 

Arthur was shocked into silence, having never seen Ahto this angry before. 

Henry stepped in between the two and opened his mouth before Ahto cut him off. 

“Oh don’t you start with your con artist spiel “Dr. Jekyll”, I might just lose my mind!” Ahto snapped.

Anthony stepped in instead, deciding he didn’t like this new twist after all. “Sir, this is private property which you have entered without permission, you are verbally harassing my clients and you’re frankly, being an assclown. I’m going to have to ask you to leave if you don’t want me taking apart your assets and reputation bit by bit starting with a breaking and entering charge.” Anthony spoke in one breath, smiling like a shark the whole time.

Ahto turned his sunglasses-covered gaze to Anthony, clearly not pleased. “I’m just trying to protect Arthur’s reputation from getting mixed in with these fools. I know far too much about them to let them pull the wool over my eyes!” As he spoke, something shifted under the blanket that covered his legs, causing a rather queasy feeling to come over Arthur. “And furthermore-“

“The Society is NOT A HOAX.” Dr. Jekyll spoke up, looking more than just a little peeved. “Just because we are looking into the less explored areas of science doesn’t mean we are a hoax! We are a legitimate entity!” 

_ “Knock him over. Let’s see how talkative he is then.” _ Hyde growled. 

“And if you have any grievances with The Society I suggest that you bring them up with me.” Dr. Jekyll had a smile on his face but it obviously wasn’t genuine. 

Ahto let out a wet snort underneath the cloth that obscured most of his face. “I’ve written papers on you people. I’m not afraid to write a few more-“

“It’s not a hoax Professor! I can prove it!” Arthur suddenly blurted out. “I can give you a tour!” 

“We can also throw him out.” Anthony suggested perkily.

“Let Arthur handle things his way Anthony.” Terra insisted to her son. She didn’t like Ahto either but he was Arthur’s adoptive father and teacher, and it was Arthur’s decision how to treat him.

Ahto seemed semi-placated by Arthur’s words, not even bothering to send an angry glare Anthony’s way. “That confident hmm? Fine. I’ll take the bait.” 

Arthur let out a sigh of relief before grabbing Ahto’s wheelchair and began rolling him out of the lobby. “Let’s visit Mr. Pennebrygg first.” Arthur announced with a concerned Henry trailing behind him. 

Mr. Pennebrygg’s workspace was incredibly neat considering his line of work. With everything labeled and neatly tucked away in its proper place. 

“Mr. Pennebrygg!” Arthur called out to the man cheerily, though he didn’t wave as he normally would, considering that he was holding Ahto’s wheelchair.

Mr. Pennebrygg looked up from the sketch he was doing and waved at the group. “Good morning everyone, who are these two?” He gestured to Anthony and Ahto.

Anthony answered first. “I’m Anthony Hart, your company’s new lawyer. I figured I’d introduce myself to everyone while Arthur gave this nuisance here a tour.” Anthony points at Ahto.

“I’m Professor Arlo Ahto. I’m a resident skeptic. I’m here to see what this “society” is about. What do you do?” He pointendly asked him. 

Mr. Pennebrygg looks confused by the two men but answers. “I build automatons and other intricate machinery, of course I only just got back so I’m still in the design phase with everything.”

“Mr. Pennebrygg is quite skilled in his field as you can see. In fact I would consider him our resident robotics expert!” Arthur was obviously nervous as he spoke, his voice shaking slightly.

“Is he a descendant of the original Mr. Pennebrygg?” Ahto asked, eyeing the man suspiciously. “It’s incredibly coincidencidental that a descendant would be pulled into the same scam as his ancestor.” 

Mr. Pennybrygg blinked. “Actually I’m the original, you see we had this incident trying to recreate the philosopher's stone that slowed down or stopped our aging. We think. Testing has proven inconclusive.” He tried to explain in the face of Ahto’s glare.

There was movement underneath Ahto’s blanket though it seemed to have a nervous quality to it. “P-philosopher's stone?! Poppycock! That’s just a fairytale! I mean who the hell led you to even look for such a children’s tale?” Ahto squirmed a bit in his seat, as though he was attempting to adjust himself. 

Arthur’s face looked confused and he turned towards Jekyll, obviously looking for an answer.

“We were actually led to it by a rather reputable man.” Jekyll said, his voice cold. “Though his name escapes me at the moment.”

“I think his name was Mr. Hues? I just remember him being a rather snide character to be honest.” Pennybrygg supplied. 

“If you’re talking about Professor Robert Hues, I believe you must be mistaken. Such a pioneer of underwater science would never get tangled in with the likes of you!” Ahto suddenly barked, a strange edge to his voice.”Besides how come Mr. Grimes wasn’t made aware of this miraculous event?”

“Well. I didn’t think it was rather necessary to bring such a story up, and he never seemed to be curious about it.” Dr. Jekyll curtly replied, trying to push away the slight ping of guilt that he felt over it.

“ _ Are you that desperate to keep something from Prince Charming? _ ” Hyde questioned, obviously enjoying every moment of this. 

Anthony snickered and addressed Arthur. “You didn’t ask? There was a big group of people immune to aging and you decided it wasn't worth asking about?”

“I’m sure he just didn't want to pry Anthony, not everyone likes to dig up other people’s business.” Terra teased her son.

“I’ve..Just been taught not to question many things.” Arthur mumbled, looking at his feet. 

“Well maybe he didn’t think about it because it’s a stupid idea?” Ahto snapped at Anthony. “He’s not an idiot. I made sure of that.”

“Ok, I’ll just add ‘shit parent’ to the list of reasons I don’t like you.” Anthony said before pretending to make a note on his phone.

“Blame it on his mother. I didn’t teach him bad habits.” Ahto glared at him. “If I could, I would give you a little physical lesson in respecting your-“

“I believe that we should leave Mr. Pennebrygg alone to his work now! Thank you very much for your time Mr.Pennebrygg!” Arthur’s voice was high pitched, and he shot a look towards Pennebrygg that was a mix between pleading for forgiveness and looking ashamed of himself. 

“... Ok buddy, first of all how the hell is he supposed to learn what’s real and what isn’t if he doesn’t question anything? You, a scientist, refused to allow your ward to use basic scientific methods and expect him to just automatically know what’s right? Secondly, did you just insult someone's dead mom to cover your own ass for something you obviously did. You Ahto, are one nasty piece of work.” Anthony wasn’t smiling at all, there was no more amusement in his voice. He was legitimately angry now.

Arthur looked as though he wanted to floor to swallow him whole at the moment when Ahto opened his mouth to reply. “What right do you have to question my raising of Arthur? I don’t believe that you’ve ever had to deal with three children from your former colleague being plopped on your doorstep! Especially with my condition it’s a hell of a thing to do! So forgive me if I forgot something in the course of trying to raise children that  _ aren’t even mine, all while they insist on being brainless twats!”  _

Ahto almost didn’t have time to register that he was being picked up wheelchair and all before Terra was carrying him through the lobby to the door while a fuming Anthony followed close behind.

Arthur stared down at the floor, looking as though he had been punched in the stomach by a tenfoot bodybuilder. Dr.Jekyll turned to Arthur, taking the man's hands in his own, 

“Don’t listen to him Arthur.” Jekyll almost cooed as he spoke to Arthur. “You’re an incredibly intelligent and handsome man. That senile old bastard doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” A bit of venom creeped into Dr.Jekyll’s voice before it quickly disappeared, being replaced with honey-like sweetness. “You are an amazing asset to the Society of Arcane Science, and I honestly don’t believe I could have gotten even a step near to where we are without you.” He gently rubbed Arthur’s hands as he spoke. 

Arthur didn’t reply, though it was obvious that Henry’s words were comforting to him as he gently bobbed his head along with the other man's words.

Meanwhile Terra had found it in her heart to place the now screaming Ahto at the bottom of the front steps instead of literally throwing him out as she’d done with James. Once that was done she went right back inside to check on Arthur. Anthony stayed back and grabbed the old man by the shoulder as soon as his mother was out of sight. “You listen to me you slimy little bastard, if you come back here and harass my clients again you'll be bankrupt in a week.” Anthony leaned closer and in a deeper darker voice added. “And if you even think about badmouthing this establishment in the tabloids I’ll make you into  _ calamari _ .” With that he plastered a friendly smile on his face and strode back into the building.

Ahto snarled as he watched Anthony walk away, he wanted to strangle the disrespectful bastard but he wasn’t willing to go that far yet. He would be back, as soon as the monstrous lawyer was out of the picture. 

Anthony and Terra walked in on the scene of Dr.Jekyll comforting Arthur gently, while Mr. Pennebrygg looked like he was trying to process what had just unfolded in front of him. 

“Don’t worry Arthur, I’ll handle it. I think you may need some rest..” Dr. Jekyll was saying to the exhausted looking man. “There’s just been too many bastards coming here.” Henry’s tone continued to fluctuate from soothing to venomous, as though Hyde was contributing to the conversation. 

“Is there anything we can do to support you Arthur?” Terra asked softly. Anthony held back, he wasn't good at comfort. “This has been a trying couple of days, and we’d really like to help.”

“I just want to know what I’ve done for God to punish me like this.” Arthur mumbled, looking even more exhausted than usual. “This was supposed to be a tour to show how great the Society is..but then..” He gestured to Mr. Pennebrygg weakly. “I not only interrupted his work but ruined his day as well.” 

Mr. Pennebrygg shifted awkwardly in his seat. “You didn’t do anything untoward Arthur, the only one who was rude was that awful old man. You really haven’t done anything wrong.” He was sincere, but also hoping they’d leave so he could have a break from the drama.

Arthur nodded before walking off, leaving Dr. Jekyll and the others alone. Dr. Jekyll stood completely still, not looking at anyone in the face. But instead he was staring at a particularly reflective piece of metal with a peculiar expression on his face. His eyes were green and held a burning rage in them. 

“Goodness. That was quite dramatic wasn’t it?” Henry’s voice held an incredibly venomous undertone, which unnerved the parties in the room. 

“Hello Hyde, will you be joining us for lunch or are you just poking your head out for a bit?” Terra asked, sounding friendly but almost as tired as Arthur had.

Hyde’s fake Jekyll smile widened as he continued to refuse eye contact with anyone. “I would  _ simply love to _ ! But unfortunately I have to hurt someone first before I can relax for tea!” Hyde began walking out of the room, grabbing a pipe as he did so. “I’m going to borrow this for a little bit!” He chirped cheerily. 

“Now hold on a moment my fine friend.” Anthony said, before blocking the door. “As much as I’d love to see that old asshole’s face smashed in, we’re playing the long game here.” He purred. “If you kill him now, I won't be able to squeeze all that lovely money and information out of him. He obviously knows a lot more than he lets on, and I’m sure you don’t want to keep relying on James for money. So how about we hold off on the murder until I wring him dry.” 

Terra frowned a bit. “I could've sworn I didn’t raise you to be an evil mastermind.” Her tone was playful though.

Hyde stood there for a moment before the pipe suddenly dropped from his hand. He looked rather horrified with himself. “I’m not interested in hurting anyone!” Jekyll blurted out.

“ _ Oh come on Henry! Why can’t you let me speak before shutting me down? _ ” Hyde growled inside Henry’s head. 

“I’m not going to do anything violent! I balk at the thought!” Jekyll squeaked, his face pale. “...Please don't tell Arthur about this.”

Anthony shrugged. “If you insist.”

Terra nodded, a little more reluctant. “I think he’d understand, but it’s your business.” She sighed, exhausted by the last two days. “Now, I think I deserve to go have a nice lunch with my son, you try to relax a bit too Henry. It’s been a hard morning for all of us.”

Dr. Jekyll nodded before scampering away, leaving a rather confused Pennebrygg to go back to his work.


End file.
